Personal Mission
by Mahala
Summary: He had made it his personal mission to find out who they were protecting and hunt them down. But at what cost? Follows on from episodes 3x16 and 3x24. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N : This fic follows on from events in Season 3, specifically Episode 3x10 Sweet Sixteen and 3x24 Snow Day. Hopefully those events will be explained sufficiently in Chapter 2 for readers not familiar with them. However, I must warn you that this fic is a little darker than my previous stories. I have given it an M rating to be on the safe side not only for occasional language but also for mature themes touching on violence (specifically torture) and mental illness (PTSD). I have tried to avoid anything too graphic but I feel it only fair to give my readers due warning.**

**Chapter 1**

Jo Danville tapped her pen nervously against the surface of her desk as she tried to study the ballistics report in front of her. As she looked down the corridor she could see Lindsay watching her. Jo glanced at her watch for the fourth time in as many minutes. She returned to the ballistics report but, despite having read the same words over and over, they still didn't seem to make sense. She couldn't concentrate so she closed the file with a sigh and pushed herself away from the desk. Lindsay was still hovering in the corridor and she could see Danny looking at her from one of the lay-out rooms. She grabbed her phone and pressed her speed dial. She knew he wasn't going to answer but she tried anyway. The phone went straight to voice-mail and the slightly sick feeling in her stomach returned as she listened to his voice for the tenth time that day. She pressed the button to end the call and with a determined expression she rose from her chair and headed towards the AV lab.

Jo saw Adam jump as she entered. His face was sombre and his eyes full of worry She looked at him and then at Danny and Lindsay who had silently followed her. "All right Adam. Do it." Jo watched as Adam turned back to keyboard and hit the enter key. A pop-up box appeared. 'Enter number to be traced.' Adam typed in the number from memory. Jo realized that he had already set it up and was just waiting for her go-ahead. They all waited.

Jo's phone rang taking her by surprise. She glanced hopefully at the caller ID and lifted the phone to her ear. "Yes Don? … No, still no news. Adam's tracing his cell now ... Okay go ahead. Sheldon should be there shortly just in case... " She hung up just as the computer beeped. She peered over Adam's shoulder.

"No signal." huffed Adam. "I'm going to try to switch it on remotely." He tapped away at the keyboard as Jo turned to Danny and Lindsay, her face betraying a little of the nervousness she was now beginning to feel. She looked at her watch again.

"When was the last time you heard from him?" asked Lindsay.

Jo sighed. For some reason she felt guilty. "Friday night. I was in a hurry. I'd promised Ellie that we'd take in that new movie. I guess it was about six-thirty." Jo remembered that she had merely waved at him through the glass. She hadn't taken the time to go in and speak to him. Now she desperately wished she had.

"He was still here at ten." Jo looked at Adam questioningly. "I'd … er … forgotten my keys so I had to come back. He was still in his office but he looked like he was getting ready to leave." Jo tipped her head to one side and was about to ask something else when her attention was drawn back to the computer which bleeped again. Adam turned back to look at the screen. "Nothing. His phone is either out of battery or ..." Adam didn't finish his sentence as he swung back to face the others. He looked even more worried. "Look there's probably a rational explanation. Maybe he went away for the weekend and you know forgot to charge his phone. Maybe he's stuck in traffic." Adam tried to look hopeful but his voice gave him away. "I mean it's only been just over two hours."

"Yeah! But when was the last time Mac was this late for a Monday morning team meeting? He always calls or texts if he's been delayed." Danny looked unhappy. Jo could tell that he thought that something was wrong. "Adam can you check Mac's phone log? Maybe he got a call out?" Adam nodded and turned back to the keyboard. Jo didn't believe that for a minute because she would have heard something about it but she let Adam check anyway.

"Jo do you think we should check ..." Lindsay hesitated not wanting to say it. " … hospitals? You know … just in case?" Jo's lips tightened as she considered Lindsay's suggestion. She didn't want to say yes as she didn't want to think about it. It seemed premature but she nodded reluctantly. Lindsay whirled around glad to have something practical to do. Danny hurried after her and Jo hovered behind Adam as he checked the NYPD switchboard.

"There were no calls from the switchboard. Looks like it's been a quiet weekend. Let me check other calls to Mac's cell. It might take a while."

"Okay Adam thanks." Jo ran her hand through her hair in frustration. "Dammit. Mac, where are you?"

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Don Flack thanked the building supervisor who handed him a set of keys. "Can you drop them back in my office? Mr Taylor likes me to keep a set for deliveries and you know … just in case." The little man smiled and rubbed his nose on his sleeve. He looked nervously at Mac's door. "Will you be needing me? I've got to keep an eye on the electricians on the second floor." Don indicated that he could go and that he'd drop the keys back as soon as he was done. As the supervisor left, the elevator sounded and Sheldon Hawkes stepped out into the hallway.

"Hey Don. Jo sent me over … just in case ..." Sheldon didn't continue his sentence. Don merely nodded; he didn't want to think about 'just in case' scenarios. He glanced at the four keys on the ring. He selected the key that the super had said opened Mac's door. He opened it up and glanced at Sheldon before stepping in.

"Mac?" Don's voice echoed around the apartment. It was eerily quiet. Both men walked in and looked around. Everything was tidy and clean. The curtains were open and sunlight streamed in through the balcony windows. Nothing seemed out of place.

"Has the super seen him?"asked Sheldon as he followed Don to the right and into the kitchen. Again there nothing out of the ordinary. The kitchen was immaculate; there were no dishes in the sink and the sink was dry.

"No, not since Friday morning when Mac left for work." Don rubbed his hand over the hotplates. Cold. He then checked the refrigerator. Nothing unusual. In fact not a lot of anything. The fridge was almost empty other than some bottled drinks and milk. Don opened the milk and sniffed. A faintly sour smell came back at him. The milk was slightly off. He replaced the bottle and checked the trash. Nothing. They moved down the corridor. Sheldon opened the door to the bathroom and looked around.

"The basin and shower are both dry. So's his toothbrush. Doesn't look he used the bathroom this morning." Sheldon frowned as he looked at Don who had moved across the corridor to the bedroom. He checked the laundry basket. There was little in there other than underwear and a couple of shirts. Sheldon looked at the topmost item and tried to remember whether Mac had been wearing the grey shirt on Friday.

"Bed's made." Don shouted as he moved to Mac's cupboard and slid open the teak-wood doors. Inside Mac's suits were hung neatly in a row, as were his shirts. Shoes were placed on a rack at the bottom and casual clothes were piled neatly on the shelves though one shelf was empty and there was a space on the shoe rack. Don closed the cupboard with a sigh; there was nothing out of place. He wished he kept his place this tidy. He stepped back into the corridor as Sheldon appeared having just checked the spare room. "Nothing."

"Nor here. Where do you suppose he is?" Sheldon's voice was perfectly calm but the look on his face told another story.

"I've no idea. What's in there?" Don indicated a fourth door at the end of the corridor.

Sheldon turned round as though seeing the door for the first time and shrugged. "Closet?"

"That opens inward?"

Sheldon considered it for a moment then reached out and tried the handle. It was locked. Sheldon turned to look at Don who looked at the keys in his hand. Don glanced back at the door. He selected the largest of the four keys and passed them to Sheldon holding the key by his fingertips. Sheldon slid the key into the lock. He seemed surprised when it turned with ease. He pushed the door open and froze. "I'll be damned. I stayed with Mac for almost six weeks. I never knew this was here." Sheldon put his head round the door and spied a light-switch. He flipped it on as Don came up behind him. They both looked at one another and then at the dimly-lit, narrow flight of steps. Above them neon lights flickered to life. Curious they went up the stairs. As they turned a corner, the steps emerged at the far end of a room that stretched almost the whole length and breadth of Mac's apartment downstairs. Don came to a halt next to Sheldon as they both stared around the room in disbelief.

"Oh my God Mac! What the hell have you been doing?" whispered Don to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N : Dear Readers, Thank you very much for your reviews, alerts and PM's – and for the suggestion about the rating. I have changed the rating to T until chapter 8 and then will change it to an M rating to be on the safe side. I have to admit didn't realize that the main page excluded M rated fics. I always worry about ratings as I myself do not like anything too graphic and I wouldn't wish to offend anybody so I tend to err on the side of caution.**

**As I mentioned this story follows on from episodes 3x16 and 3x24. Hopefully I have made the background to these two episodes clear in this chapter but if you would like to read summaries of those episodes I suggest you go to the TV-dot-com web site shows/csi-ny/season-3/.**

**Chapter 2**

Don opened Mac's front door and turned away without a word letting Jo and the others follow. Right now he wasn't sure what to think let alone say to them. After he had gotten over his initial surprise he had called Jo and asked them all to come saying that they had to see for themselves. Don led them back through the apartment and up the hidden flight of stairs. He emerged into the upper room and stepped back to allow them entrance. Sheldon looked up from the table in the centre of the room as Jo stepped in cautiously her eyes widening. She turned to look at Danny and Lindsay as they both gasped in amazement. For a few minutes they looked all around in utter disbelief trying to take in what they were seeing. It was Adam who finally broke the silence.

"Did you guys know about this?" The incredulity in his voice matched the looks on everyone's face as they shook their heads. "This is crazy. Where did he get all this stuff?"

Sheldon's face was grim "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say he's been collecting this since the attack at the lab." Sheldon waved his hand to indicate the array of scientific equipment that adorned the centre table. Danny and Lindsay walked slowly down the length of the room looking at Mac's private lab. Everything was perfectly laid out: pipettes, tongs, test tubes, chemical spoons, wash bottles, gloves and masks. There was a small sterilizer and a micro-centrifuge. Lindsay bent down and looked at the small glass-fronted refrigerator under the table. There were several samples and a small number of basic test chemicals. She rose as Sheldon continued. "Some of it appears to be reconditioned. This microscope has clearly been damaged. You can see where it's been repaired. He's obtained it all perfectly legally." Sheldon stepped over to a metal shelving unit at the end of the room that held a large number of folders, box files, and stacks of paper. He pulled out a box file and opened it show them. "He's got receipts for everything."

Adam had wandered down to the end of the room. Next to the metal shelving unit was a long wooden desk with two computer screens. "Well these look pretty new." He touched one of the keyboards. The whirling screen-saver immediately stopped and a box popped up onto the screen. "Mmm. Password protected." he muttered.

Jo glanced at the lab station and then at the shelves and the table and at the computers but it was the 3 old-fashioned white-boards aligned along the wall that drew her attention. She wandered slowly along looking at the maze of photographs, lists of names, places, questions. Some were high-lighted in boxes. Others had circles drawn around them. And some were crossed out. She couldn't help but smile as she saw some multi-coloured sticky notes. She wasn't the only one to use the notes it seemed or maybe he'd just picked up the habit from her.

"Okay." She whirled to face the others and set her hands on her hips. "You want to fill me in on what the hell this is all about?" she asked sternly as she looked at the others. Danny and Lindsay looked at one another as though they didn't know where to start but they both looked deeply concerned. Danny's body language was closed off, his arms tightly folded against his chest, his lips pulled tight as he shook his head from side to side. Lindsay had gone very pale and was staring warily at the lab equipment as though it might suddenly come to life. Adam was looking nervously at the boards behind her as he rubbed repeatedly at the palm of his hand. Don's face was unreadable but if Jo hadn't known better she would have said he looked as though he was about to be sick. He opened his mouth to speak but it was Sheldon who answered for him.

"It's his personal mission!" he spat. Jo turned to look at him. Sheldon was shaking his head gently in resignation as he looked at the faces on the boards, a look of deep sadness on his face that was tinged with … Jo looked at him carefully … anger, she thought to herself. "I should have known that Mac wouldn't just let this go." Sheldon's voice took a slightly annoyed edge. "Five years ago Mac swore that he would make it his personal mission to track down whoever he was protecting."

"Who who was protecting?" Jo was getting frustrated.

Don pointed to two photographs at the top of the central board. Jo studied the pictures of a man in his early 30's with mid-length, wavy, dark hair that was parted in the centre to fall on either side of his face. One was clearly an autopsy photograph. The second looked as though it had been taken by a security camera from an elevated position and showed him in a gas company uniform, a determined almost brutal look on his face. "The man who killed his boss, the infamous Irish drug lord, Gavin Wilder. The same man who orchestrated a raid on the crime lab to get back his 900 kilos of drugs that we had seized." Don moved away from Jo to the right-hand board and pointed to a picture of a young woman. "The same man who killed FBI agent Candace Broadbent who was investigating a case involving an ex-member of the IRA living in Hell's Kitchen."

"We identified every one in that raid except for him." Danny nodded at the central board. "Mac's going after whoever he was protecting when he murdered Candace Broadbent." Jo stepped up to the board and looked at Candace's photographs. One was her official FBI photograph showing a serious young woman in a smart suit. The second photograph, however was more of a family snapshot showing her with her arms around two small boys, one of whom was looking up at the man standing off to one side of the picture. Mac.

"Where was this taken?" she asked. Don looked at the picture. "Looks like one of the Widows and Orphans events that Mac helps organize. Candace's husband was in the NYPD, killed in the line of duty. Those poor boys lost both their parents."

Jo nodded thoughtfully as she moved to the last board. "Who is this...?" she asked as she looked at a photograph of a uniformed police officer with an Alsation dog sitting by his side. "...Kevin Bart?" Don frowned and shook his head as though he should know the name. He looked at the others in askance.

Danny bounced up and down screwing up his face trying to dredge up the memories. "Yeah, yeah, yeah … Kevin Bart. His name came up in the Ray Seeley case ... you know ..." Danny looked at Don as he pointed at another photograph further down the board. "... the pigeon racing guy that was killed in his bird coop. We suspected the kid but it turned out to be the stepfather. Turned out that vic's real name was Rudy Santangelo. He was in Witness Protection. That's why Mac went to see Candace. To try to find out why Ray, or Rudy I should say, was in Witness Protection."

Don nodded as the details of the case came back to him. He tapped the photograph "That's right. Rudy Santangelo witnessed the murder of Kevin Bart by two bank robbers who were believed to be IRA. Candace went digging around at Mac's request because we thought that Rudy's murder was linked to the robbery. She must have come up with something 'cos not long after she was found murdered. Shot execution style to the head but we matched the bullet to the gun used by the guy who masterminded the raid at the lab." Don moved back to the central board and tapped the photograph of the gang leader who had died in the explosion at the lab.

"Mac believed that he killed Candace to protect some-one else, possibly his father." Sheldon said. "but we were never able to identify the guy. No prints, no DNA, no facial recognition, nothing. The guy was a ghost."

"Maybe not." Everyone turned to look at Adam who had absently picked up a file lying next to the computers. He turned the open file to face everyone. Inside was a single typed sheet with the autopsy photograph of the man, physical description, and autopsy report. It was entitled John Doe. Everyone moved to peer more closely at the fluorescent pink sticky note attached to it with two words written in Mac's distinctive print. "Colm Gunn!"


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N : Dear Readers, Thank you all very much for your reviews, alerts and PM's. I know several of you want to find out what trouble Mac has got himself into but you are going to have to be patient … one has to set the scene and introduce all the characters first! So please no flames … but little reviews are always welcome :-D**

**Chapter 3**

Jo leaned on the coffee shop bar and looked out of the window at the pouring rain that had replaced the early morning sunshine. The iron grey sky made her feel even colder as she wrapped her hands around the cup of tea desperately trying to dispel the chill that had settled inside her. A voice behind her made her turn. "Russ, thank you for coming." He must have read the desolation in her face as he wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulder.

"Still no news?" he asked concerned to see his ex-wife looking so troubled.

Jo shook her head. It had been over four hours since Mac had been due at the office and no one had heard anything. "I've left Danny and Lindsay at Mac's apartment to go through the files and evidence that he had collected there. Adam is running a programme to crack the passwords on his computers and he is looking at camera footage to see if we can track his movements once he left on Friday night. Flack has gone to check all of Mac's usual haunts and Sheldon has gone back to the lab to coordinate with Sid to see if Mac had accessed any case files or autopsy reports that might give us a clue."

"You think it has to do with this Colm Gunn?" Russ asked as he leaned on the counter next to her. "Could it be related to another case? Mac has put away a lot of dangerous people."

Jo nodded in agreement. "I know. I know. I've checked whether any of Mac's major arrests have been released recently. Nothing. We have no active cases that would warrant a personal attack on Mac. If anything it's been kinda' quiet. At least for us. Don says he's going ask around his contacts to see if there's word on the street. I realize that it could be something completely unrelated but, at the moment, the only thing we have to go on is this."

Russ nodded and placed a file on the bar between them. "Okay well unfortunately I don't have much for you. We don't have a file on Colm Gunn. The only Gunn that has a case file is a Finbar Gunn. He was certainly living in Hell's Kitchen at the time you're interested in but there's nothing in his file that ties him to the bank robbery that killed your policeman ..." Russ paused to consult the file in his hand. "er … Kevin Bart. The two suspects that we had for that robbery were Quinn Morrison and … can you believe it a Davy Jones? Sounds like Pirates of the Caribbean not Gangs of New York. Anyway Santangelo identified Jones as the shooter. It was his testimony that put them away. Davy Jones died in a prison fight six months after the trial. Quinn Morrison served 18 years for armed robbery, assault and conspiracy to murder. He was released on medical grounds 8 months ago."

"Morrison? Any relation to the Billy Morrison who died in the explosion at the crime lab?" Jo looked at Russ who nodded.

"His father!"

"I think we need to have a word with Mr Morrison."

Russ handed her the file. "Here's everything we have on Quinn Morrison and Finbar Gunn. He might be related to your Colm Gunn. According to the file they never caught the getaway driver and the investigating agent at the time didn't like either Quinn Morrison or Davy Jones for master-minding the robbery. According to him they were the muscle. Someone else planned it."

"Maybe we should talk to the investigating agent?" Jo looked at the file.

Russ shook his head. "Nah he died a couple of years back but I think I can do one better. According to his case notes he got a lot of information from an NYPD cop that was first on the scene of the bank robbery and knew a lot about the Hells' Kitchen crowd." Russ looked at Jo and grinned. "Don Flack."

Jo's mouth fell open in surprise. "Don?" she spluttered. Before she could utter that that was just not possible Russ added.

"Senior!"

.

_'CSINY – CSINY – CSINY – CSINY – CSINY'_

.

Don was waiting for Jo outside the apartment block. He pushed away from the wall as she walked up. "Anything?" he asked. Jo shook her head. "I've talked to some thirty odd people. The only thing I know for sure is that he made it home Friday night. Señor Chow delivered at 10:22pm. Spicy orange chicken. Definitely Mac!" He gave Jo a small grin trying to lighten the tension. She smiled back as he pressed the buzzer. She knew how close the two men were and she could tell that Don was upset and worried though he was doing his best to hide it. "There was nothing in the refrigerator nor in the trash. His clothes were in the laundry. A set of casual clothes was missing. If I had to hazard a guess he went out running early Saturday morning before the building's super was up and about. Adam's checking nearby cam's to confirm."

"That you Donnie?" A tinny voice came from the speaker.

"Yeah Dad. It's me." The buzzer sounded and Don led Jo into the building. They went up to the fourth floor, the door at the end of the corridor opening as they approached. Don introduced Jo and they went into the main room, a cosy, simply furnished apartment with two well used leather chairs and a small couch. As Don senior invited her to sit Jo couldn't help but notice the police memorabilia and family photographs, with one of Don at his Police Academy graduation prominently displayed on the credenza. Jo observed father and son as they both sat down. Don must favour his mother she thought to herself as they were not physically alike. His father was shorter and heavier set. Even though he had gone grey Jo suspected that he wasn't as dark haired as his son but she could tell from the laughter lines and the way his eyes sparkled like "Donnie's" that he had the same quick wit and intelligence.

"So you want to know about the gangs huh?" Don senior got straight down to business. Just like his son. Jo couldn't help a small smile as the two men's mannerisms mirrored one another.

"Yes, in particular a bank robbery in 1993 when Kevin Bart was killed." Jo watched as the old man frowned in thought. It was almost twenty years ago. Perhaps he wouldn't remember but then she immediately berated herself.

"Nasty business that. Shot him point blank range, poor kid. Shot the dog too." Don senior shook his head. "Yes a bad business. We had a witness. His friend Rudy Santangelo. He fingered Davy Jones as the shooter and Quinn Morrison as the bag man. The feds took lead on it as it was gang related. They were ex-IRA. It wasn't difficult to pick them up although we never caught the get-away driver."

"Could the driver have been Finbar Gunn?" Jo asked. Don senior looked at her for a moment.

"Finbar Gunn? … That's a name I haven't heard in a long while. … No, he wouldn't have driven the car. He was the money man. He cooked the books and made sure it got back to the old country. We got him on money laundering charges eventually." He huffed. "Why are you interested in him?"

"We're interested in this man." Don passed his father copies of the photographs that Mac had pinned to his board. "He was responsible for taking out Gavin Wilder and the attack on the crime lab." Don senior smiled widely at his son before turning to Jo.

"That was my Donnie's show. Nine hundred kilos. Biggest bust in NYPD history. Yessir Gavin Wilder."

"Dad!" Don junior looked a little embarrassed but Jo merely smiled at how proud his father was of him.

"Mac seems to have found a name for him. Colm Gunn. We wondered if he could be related to Finbar Gunn." Jo grinned at Donnie as she now liked to think of him as she drew his father's attention back to the subject at hand.

"Colm you say. Don't recall Finbar having any kids. He was married. Don't recall her name. Mary? Moira? Something like that. She was a real quiet mouse of a woman … unlike his sister. Now she was a real spitfire. Almost ripped half my hair out when we arrested Finbar she did." Don senior's laugh echoed around the small apartment as he rubbed at his balding head absent-mindedly. "A smart woman that one but a real spitfire. You know it wouldn't have surprised me if she'd been the one behind the robbery."

"Dad, do you know what happened to them?"

"As I said Finbar went down for money laundering. I heard he got out but don't know where he is now. He and the missus were living in Hell's Kitchen. You wouldn't think it used to be one of the most notorious neighbourhoods to look at it now. All those modern buildings with energy saving what-nots. Never seen so many new buildings. Won't be much of the old neighbourhood left if they keep building."

The soft ringing of Jo's phone interrupted his train of thought. She nodded her excuses as she answered. "Okay Sheldon. We'll be right there." She smiled at Don senior. "Thank you for time Mr Flack. Come along Donnie." She grinned much to the younger Flack's annoyance.

"My pleasure. Donnie tells me this all has to do with Mac Taylor." Jo nodded, her face falling at the mention of Mac's name. The feeling that something bad had happened grew to leave an empty feeling in her stomach "Hope you find him. He's a good man. He saved my boy's life you know." Jo looked at Don and she felt tears prick at her eyes at the play of emotions on his face. She saw fear and despair and worry but as they rose to leave she noted that they were soon were replaced by a fierce determination. God help the person who harmed Mac Taylor she thought.

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'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

When they arrived back at the lab they were surprised to see both Sid and Sheldon peering over Adam's shoulder. As they approached they could see that Adam was flicking through a set of crime scene photos.

"What are you looking at?" asked Jo.

"The last file that Mac accessed before leaving on Friday night." answered Sheldon. "Finbar Gunn's."

Jo peered more closely at the crime scene photographs that showed a short, slim grey -haired man in his late fifties lying on an open patch of land. Adam clicked to a close-up. A single bullet wound to the head.

Sheldon nodded. "According to this he was killed three months ago." Jo looked at him in surprise. "But we didn't ..."

Sheldon held up his hands for her to stop. "Not our case. He was found in Jersey. But what is interesting is that his DNA didn't raise any flags when entered in CODIS. That's because Finbar Gunn is not Colm Gunn's father." As Jo's face fell he continued. "He is his uncle … or to be precise … half uncle." Jo threw Sheldon a questioning look. "Standard searches only flag up results for a potential match that shares at least one allele at every locus. This wasn't flagged because it was only a partial match." Jo looked at Don.

"The hair-ripping spitfire?" Don grinned. It was everyone else's turn to look confused. "Dad said that when he went to arrest Finbar Gunn twenty years ago, his sister attacked him and ripped out half his hair."

All the men present flinched and Sid even went so far as to run his fingers through his hair and muttered something about one of his ex-wives and knowing what that felt like. Meanwhile Adam was tapping at the keyboard looking through the rest of the case file. "Okay it says here that his next of kin is his wife Moira Gunn. And we have an address! No information on a sister or half-sister."

"Okay. Sheldon you and I will take the widow. Sid can you take a look at the autopsy report? Adam see if there's anything else that might be useful. Anything on Mac's movements?"

"Well, he was alive and well Saturday morning. He took a cab at 9:30am. I'm waiting for them to get back to me with the driver and destination." Adam didn't realise the effect his words would have.

Jo suddenly felt sick to the stomach as she couldn't help but think that perhaps he was no longer alive and well. Jo turned to look at Don who didn't fail to miss the look of anguish that passed over her face. He gently touched her arm to see if she was all right. She nodded.

"I'll see if I can track down Quinn Morrison." Sheldon looked at Don clearly recognising the name.. "Yep Billy Morrison's father. Turns out that our Billy was a chip off the old block; his dad was one of the two men Rudy Santangelo fingered for the bank robbery though he wasn't the one that actually killed Kevin Bart. Turns out that was Davy Jones."

"Davy Jones …?" Adam giggled. "Did he have a locker?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N : Dear Readers, Thank you all very much for your reviews, alerts and PM's. They really make my day and also assure me that the story is making sense!**

**Chapter 4**

Lindsay glanced at her husband across the table as she went through the trace evidence that Mac had analysed. He was staring at the whiteboards deep in thought. Somehow she felt that he wasn't really seeing them; his mind was somewhere else. "Danny?" He turned to look at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. This is unbelievable. Not only does he spend his whole time in the office working. Even when he's home he's still working." Danny grabbed another box folder from the shelves. He frowned when he saw there was no label on it. He shook it and realizing that there was something inside, he resumed his seat to look through the file.

"What's wrong Danny?" Lindsay asked not fooled for a second. Danny looked at her for a minute.

"I was just thinking about Aiden. I was just thinking how alike they are." Danny rubbed his face and cricked his neck. Lindsay knew how much Danny had liked her predecessor but she wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that before we found Aiden ..." he hesitated. "...before she died, she was doing just this." He waved his hand at the room. "Running her own secret investigation. She was obsessed with catching D.J. Pratt and it cost her her life." Danny voice broke and she could see the tension in the lines of his face. Instinctively she knew what he thinking.

"Danny, that's not going to happen to Mac. We're not going to let it. We are going to find him." Danny smiled at his wife, at the determination in her voice and on her face. He nodded and opened the unmarked box file.

"Hm." Danny tipped his head to one side as he looked at the contents of the box. "Didn't know Mac was interested in boats." He continued to flip through the photographs. There were several of a boat and then several of some modern apartment buildings and some construction sites. Suddenly the computers on Mac's desk beeped. "Oh great. Adam's little gizmo has worked. Now we've got Mac's passwords." Danny jumped up and looked at the screen on the gadget Adam had attached to Mac's computer. "Huh what kind of crazy password is that?" Lindsay looked over his shoulder as he typed it in.

"567374463" Danny huffed. "How the hell does he remember that?"

"Wow. Look at all these files. Where to start?" Lindsay bit her lip. "Let's try the last one he accessed."

Danny ordered the files by date and clicked on the last one. A newspaper article popped up on screen with a picture of a modern office building. "Hell's Kitchen goes Greene." he read. "Okay so maybe he's into architecture and boats."

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'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

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Jo Danville sank into another small sofa in another somewhat drab, simply furnished apartment. This time however, there were no photographs or memorabilia on the credenza, just a dried flower arrangement and delicate china ornaments. Where Don Flack senior's apartment spoke of his profession and his family this one said nothing about it's occupants. Jo cast her eye over the plain painted walls adorned with various needlepoint samplers in simple wooden frames. She noted the latest one sitting on a side-table with the needle sticking out. The owner of the needle came back and handed her a cup of tea. "Thank you." Jo sipped at the tea and tried her best not to shudder. It was very strong and very sweet.

The old lady settled herself into her chair with a swish of her skirt and picked up her needlepoint. "How can I help you dear? Is this about Finbar?" Her voice was soft and gentle; only the merest hint of an Irish accent still lingered.

Jo nodded. "Indirectly, I was hoping you could tell me about his sister and his nephew."

"Oh, did that other nice detective find her?" she asked as she peered down at her sewing.

Sheldon looked at Jo. "Other detective?"

"Yes, he came to see me several weeks ago not long after Finbar died. Such a nice man. He was very kind and so polite. He said his name was Taylor and he was looking for Finbar's sister. I told him that I hadn't had anything to do with her since Finbar was arrested. They killed him you know." She stabbed her needle into the material.

"What?" Jo's cup rattled against the saucer as she stared at Moira Gunn in horror.

The old woman didn't look up but continued in a smooth friendly voice as though it was the most natural thing in the world. "My Finbar. They killed him after all those years. I told that nice detective. Finbar hadn't had anything more to do with all that business. Oh to be sure, he was a supporter back then as many a true Irishman was. But after he went to jail and the troubles died down … well we just wanted a quiet life. He served his time and would never have given up the others. But they still killed him." Moira Gunn's needle stabbed at the material again.

"The others from the bank robbery?" asked Sheldon.

"Yes that and other jobs too. My Finbar was an accountant you know. He had a way with figures. I knew he managed their money but he never talked to me about 'the business' as he called it. Said it was better that way." She looked briefly up from her sewing and smiled at Jo.

"And his sister?" asked Jo watching the needle flying in and out of the material. It was almost mesmerizing. Jo shuddered again for no apparent reason.

"Maggy? His half sister actually. Colm was her son. Don't know what became of him I'm sure. Not a nice child." Moira Gunn's voice took on a secretive tone. "He was born out of wedlock. That's why he took his mother's name. Maggy went back to the old country but I guess she came back to New York when she married."

"When she married? Do you know who to?" asked Jo grimacing as she realized that the bottom of her tea cup was full of tea leaves. She set the cup down on the side table.

"Oh the other detective asked me that too. I don't recall his name but he was a builder. I remember seeing their photograph in the paper one day when they opened some big fancy building in Midtown. It had recycling and … solar things … you know?" Moira set down her sewing and picked up Jo's cup and saucer. Jo sincerely hoped she wasn't going to refill it.

"Environmentally friendly?" Sheldon smiled.

"That's right. Environmentally friendly. So clever what they can do these days. " Moira smiled at Sheldon and then her face took on an intense feeling of pain. "I do hope he's all right." She muttered as she turned away and looked intently at Jo's cup.

"Who?"

"That nice policeman. I warned him to be careful. The leaves don't lie." She swirled the cup and looked at it again. Sheldon looked at Jo in confusion. "Mm. Your future is linked with his I see. But you must be careful or you will lose him." Suddenly the old lady put down the cup and reached out and grabbed Jo's hands with surprising force. "Tread lightly when your paths cross again. Do not cross the spider's web." Jo pulled away at the intensity of the old woman's words and the sudden icy feeling that crept up her spine setting every nerve on edge. She got up quickly and thanked the woman for her time. Before Sheldon was half-way out of his seat, Jo had reached the door. As he thanked her and made to leave, Moira Gunn turned to him. "Don't be so sceptical young man. The leaves don't lie. Just because you're a scientist and a doctor doesn't mean that there aren't other powers at work in this world. Watch out for Maggy. She's a cruel woman." Moira picked up her sewing again and Sheldon watched the needle fly in and out as he left the apartment. He paused outside the door and frowned. He was sure he hadn't mentioned to her that he was a doctor.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

"Quinn Morrison! NYPD!" Don Flack banged on the door as the uniformed officers glanced up and down the dingy hallway and gestured to a nosy neighbour to go back inside. "Quinn Morrison open up!" Don could hear a scuffling sound from inside and the door opened a crack to reveal an elderly man with a scraggy beard and bloodshot eyes.

"Whadd'ya want?" he snarled.

"NYPD" Don held up his ID. "Can I have a word?" The man gestured for his ID. Don handed it over and the old man peered at it before looking up at Don. He laughed and opened the door thrusting the ID back at Don.

"Well if ain't another bloody Flack. Might have known one of his sons would become a cop." Quinn Morrison shuffled down the corridor. Don was surprised. Quinn Morrison looked a lot older than his file had suggested but judging from the smell in the apartment and the empty bottles in the filthy kitchen, the years in prison and the alcohol were taking their toll. While the man took a seat in a battered old armchair, Don had no choice but to remain standing. The only other seat in the almost derelict apartment was occupied by a mangy-looking old dog chewing on a bone. The dog eyed him as he entered the room but decided the bone was more interesting. Don eyed the dog just in case; he'd had his fair share of run-ins with dogs.

"So whadd'ya want?" Quinn snarled. His face contorted into a leer. "Lost something?"

Don's hackles rose. "What do you know about Mac Taylor?"

The leer widened into a grin. "Only that he murdered my boy."

Don fought to keep his anger under control. "Your son and Colm Gunn got themselves killed when they attacked the crime lab to get back their drugs. And you know it." A shadow of something like disappointment passed over Quinn's face at the mention of drugs. "Now where is Mac Taylor?"

"I don't know."

"Don't give me that." Don stepped closer towering over the former bank robber. The dog raised it's head.

"I don't know." Quinn insisted shuffling uncomfortably in his seat. He sniffed. "I couldn't believe it when Taylor came sniffing around again. He's a tenacious sonofabitch. Like a dog with an old bone. I told him to leave it be. Not to go stirring up the past but he'd finally identified Colm and he wasn't about to let it go."

"If something's happened to Mac Taylor and you know anything about it, I will personally make sure you go down as an accessory. Now what do you know?"

"I don't know anything. I told him nothing. And I'm telling you nothing." Quinn reached out for the glass of whiskey on the table next to him. Don swung his arm and swept it off the table, the crash of breaking glass causing one of the uniformed officers waiting in the entrance to step inside to check all was well. The dog raised it's head and growled. "He was asking about Maggy. Maggy Gunn. Colm's mother. I told him to leave it."

"What do you know about her? Where is she?" Don was getting angrier by the minute. The old man knew something.

"I don't know where she is and I don't want to know. She's trouble. She always was. Now get out."

"Not until I find out where Mac Taylor is." Don stepped forward. The dog growled again.

Quinn slumped in his chair. "Look. I was just the bag man back then. It was for the cause. I didn't want no part in the murdering. That was all Maggy. Now I've said enough. If she finds out I've talked to you I'm a dead man. Now arrest me or leave. " Quinn looked at Don with a mix of fear and hatred, though whether that was for Mac, for Don or for himself Don couldn't have said. "I don't know where Detective Taylor is but if he's found Maggy, he's probably dead too or wishes he was."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N : Dear Readers, Thank you all very much for reviewing. Do hope the story isn't too slow. Anyway here's chapter 5 in which the team get just that little bit closer to finding our hero!**

**Chapter 5**

Sheldon Hawkes glanced at Jo out of the corner of his eye as they drove back to the crime lab. Since leaving Moira Gunn's she hadn't said a word. She was staring out of the window, her mind a million miles away. In all the time he had known her Sheldon had never seen her this freaked. Somehow he didn't think it was the old woman who had scared her; something else was bothering her but he had a feeling perhaps even she didn't know what it was.

"You all right Jo?" he asked softly.

At first he thought she hadn't heard him as she didn't react. She just continued looking out of the window at the passing buildings, the grey drizzle diffusing the neon lights into a multi-coloured kaleidoscope on the car windows. When she did speak her voice was so quiet he could barely hear her.

"You know Mac once said to me that there was a time when he didn't know whether it was better to find someone alive or dead."

Sheldon jumped shocked at her words. "Jo!"

"I'm scared Sheldon. I never thought I would say it but I'm scared. I know we think he's indestructible. How many times have I heard how tough he is? How many times have I heard that he's fine? That he'll be all right? That he's a former marine? That he's …?" Jo voice rose in pitch as she spoke until she couldn't go on. She took a deep breath. "Stupid man, stupid, stupid … why did he do it Sheldon? Why?" she whispered.

Sheldon couldn't believe what he was hearing. He flicked his head to look at her but he was caught in a fast flow of traffic. Why had Mac done it? That was easy. Because Mac was a man of his word. He swore he would hunt down whoever Colm Gunn had been protecting and bring them to justice. But why had he done it on his own? That was harder to answer. Sheldon desperately wanted to stop, to tell Jo it was going to be all right, that they would find Mac and that he would be fine but the words lodged in this throat. Mac had been gone for 48 hours and for the first time since he was told Mac was missing he wondered whether they would find him alive. Moira Gunn's words haunted him as he pulled into the crime lab garage. "_Watch out for Maggy. She's a cruel woman._"

Sheldon pulled the car to halt and switched off the engine. "It's going to be all right. We'll find him Jo." Sheldon cursed himself silently. Even to his ears his words didn't sound convincing.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Don Flack stepped out of the elevator on the 35th floor. The lab offices looked no different; they were still a hive of activity with lab techs running from room to room with test results or new evidence. Somehow Don felt that it should look different. As he approached Mac's office he stopped dead surprised to see Jo sat in Mac's chair with her eyes closed. At first he thought she was asleep but her hands were gently rubbing the armrests. He pushed open the door gently "Jo?"

Her eyes flew open and for a moment she looked a little embarrassed like a school-girl caught out when she should be in class. "Hey Don. I'm glad you're here. Everyone is in the conference room." she smiled but Don could see that somehow her usual brightness was gone almost as though someone had switched off a light within her. Her dark eyes looked empty and lost. He noticed that she shivered and kept rubbing at her hands.

"You okay?" he asked. She nodded and gestured for him to accompany her to the conference room. Truth be known she wasn't okay. She couldn't shake the feeling of dread that had come over her since she visited Finbar Gunn's widow. The feel of the old woman's hands on hers and her whispered words haunted her. She had no idea why but she looked down at her hands again. As she approached the conference room she squared her shoulders and took a deep breath.

"Okay, let's go over what we've got so far. Adam?"

Adam looked up from the screen he was consulting. "Okay. Mac left his place at 9:30 Saturday morning and took a cab to the Buildings Department. According to his phone log, he spoke to a planning supervisor there on Friday afternoon. I called him a few minutes ago. Mac wanted to know about buildings that have developed by the Greene Corporation. I have a list of their buildings here together with their current and proposed construction sites."

"We found an article on Mac's computer that he was looking at just before he left." Danny walked up to the large screen at the end of the room and scrolled through the images at the bottom. Finding the one he wanted, he tapped at the screen and the article appeared. "It's from four months ago. It's about the opening of a new environmentally friendly building in Midtown built by the Greene Corporation."

"Do we have any other photographs from that event?" asked Sheldon. Danny scrolled through the files at the bottom of the screen and selected another article. Sheldon leaned forward and spoke at the same time as Jo.

"Can you enlarge the group of people?" They looked at one another and smiled. Sheldon gestured for Jo to speak.

"Moira Gunn said that Finbar Gunn's sister Maggy had married a builder. And her picture was in the paper." Jo studied the group of people in the picture. "Enlarge the group in the centre cutting the ribbon."

Danny stepped up to the picture and, using his thumbs and forefingers, he isolated a portion of the picture and enlarged it. The picture wasn't clear but showed a group of about twenty people in business dress with four in the centre in the act of cutting a red ribbon. Danny moved the picture to one side and read from the caption as he did so. "According to this the man on the left is the owner of Greene Corporation, Henrik Greene and this is his wife Mairead pictured with Councillor James and his wife."

"Mairead?" Jo sounded disappointed.

"Mairead is the Irish form of Margaret. Maggy is short for Margaret." clarified Flack. "Adam? Do we have a DMV entries for these two?" Adam tapped away and brought up two driving licenses. Henrik Greene was a heavy set man with short blondish hair turning to grey and a happy go-lucky expression. His wife was the complete opposite. She had a long slim face with high cheekbones and thin hard lips. Her long dark hair was pulled away from her face giving her a severe look but what drew everyone's attention were the piercing ice-blue eyes that appeared to look directly at you no matter where you stood. "It gives an address in Hell's Kitchen. Why am I not surprised? Perhaps we should pay them a visit?"

Jo shuddered as she looked at Maggie Gunn's picture. Those eyes! She placed her hand on his arm. "We will Don. What else do we have?"

"Mac was comparing trace from Finbar Gunn's murder and Candace Broadbent's." Lindsay pulled a file towards her and placed it next to Sid's for comparison. They both looked at the results.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Don. "You're telling me that you have evidence that links them together?"

Sid nodded. "The M.O. is identical in both cases. Both close range shots to the head, using the same type of gun and the same ammunition. Ballistics prove it wasn't the same gun but both weapons came into contact with the same product."

"Mac's theory was that Colm was protecting someone. At the time he said his father. But what if it was his mother?" mused Lindsay. "Makes sense that they would be together at some point. We found the same trace on both bullets and in both wound tracts. Marine Liquid Wax specially designed to protect topside paints and metal parts on boats."

"Does Henrik Greene own a boat?" asked Jo.

Danny flipped up another photograph on the screen. "We found pictures of this boat on Mac's PC and in a box file." Danny enlarged the name on the boat. Adam started typing. "Adam …?"

"Yeah. I'm on it. Give me a minute. The Maggy Mae is owned by ..." Adam hit a key with a flourish. "Boom!" he grinned at Danny. " Mairead Greene aka Maggy Gunn. And according to this ..." He hit another key an simulated a drum roll. "...it is currently docked in a private marina in Hoboken."

Everyone turned to look at Jo. "Okay. We're going to need to look at every aspect of Henrik and Mairead Greene's life. Sheldon I need you to look at their financials. Adam keep trying to track where Mac went. Don, get word out to all departments that Mac is missing then we'll start at their apartment. Danny and Lindsay, you take the boat. You'll have to liaise with New Jersey. I'm going to get us all access passes."

The next hour was a flurry of phone calls. Jo grabbed a coffee and went to check on progress. She found Don standing in the hallway staring intently at one of the offices. She wandered up and looked at him and looked at the empty office. "What's so interesting?"

Don sighed and gestured to the office. "This is where the explosion took place. Mac and Stella taped Billy Morrison to a chair and rigged a web of laser sights to a pipe bomb to keep him there and to prevent anyone from freeing him. Colm Gunn set off the bomb inadvertently. This place was a mess and Mac just walked away from it with barely a scratch. He has a knack for doing that." He shook his head and was about to ask her where they were with the warrants when Adam came running into the corridor. He stopped short when he saw them.

"Guys you have got to see this." He disappeared back into the AV lab without waiting for an answer. As his voice had carried all the way down the corridor a dozen people stopped to turn around wondering what was up. Don and Jo took off down the corridor as Sheldon emerged from his office.

Adam hit play as soon as they walked in. "This is a traffic cam near the Vesey Street Ferry." They watched as Mac dressed in dark jeans, t-shirt and a light jacket sauntered past as though he was out for Sunday afternoon stroll. He had a stack of papers in one hand and appeared to have a folded up map in the other. He paused for a moment right in front of the camera. He was so close Jo felt she could almost reach out and touch him then he consulted the map and turned away towards the Ferry terminal. "Sorry it's taken me so long to find him. He must have stopped somewhere for coffee after seeing the planning supervisor at the Buildings Department."

"It looks like he was hopping a ferry to Hoboken." Don thought for a minute. "That's where Maggie Gunn has her boat. Maybe he was going to check it out."

"Or where Finbar Gunn was found dead. That's not far from there either." added Sheldon. "Danny and Lindsay are on their way to the boat now. Someone's meeting them there with a warrant. Ours are on the way up."

"Whoa! Hold it!" Don suddenly jumped forward. "Adam rewind that ..." Don stared at the screen as Adam paused the video and rewound it. "Stop! Sonofabitch! I knew he was lying." Don's eyes flashed with fury as he pointed at a man making his way in the same direction as Mac. "Quinn Morrison!" Don whirled around. "Sorry Jo. Henrik Greene's all yours!"

Before Jo could say a word, he was gone. She turned to Sheldon. "So you want to visit a builder?" Sheldon shrugged and followed Jo out of the lab.

Adam stood there for a moment and then turned to the computer print-outs lying on the desk speaking to himself alternating his voice with a southern accent. "Wow, that's great work Adam! ... Why thank you Jo! I'll just stay here and work on getting the Greene's financials, if that's okay with you? ...Why sure it is Adam ...!" He turned around and saw that he was no longer alone.

Sid looked at him strangely for a moment. "I see I'm not the only one who talks to themselves. You do know that it's the first sign of madness?" Sid handed Adam a soda.

"Thanks Sid. Yeah I know. That's what Mac keeps telling me ..." Adam's voice trailed away, the humour that he relied on to get him through difficult situations evaporating at the mention of his boss' name. "He is going to be okay isn't he Sid?" As Adam looked at Sid, he suddenly felt sick. Neither of them were able to speak; the look on Sid's face said it all.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N : Thank you to my faithful reviewers – you know who you are and how much your reviews mean to me. So thank you. Now I realize that this may be getting a little frustrating but I promise you that they will find our hero within the next couple of chapters thus completing the first half of this story...  
**

**Chapter 6**

"Mr Reeves?" A slight dapper-looking man in a blazer turned round with a smile. "We're here about the Maggy Mae." Lindsay couldn't get another word in edgeways as the man immediately launched into a sales discourse about the magnificent Maggy Mae and how lucky they were as the owner wanted a quick sale. Lindsay glanced at her husband briefly and they both held up their ID cards. "We have a warrant to search the boat."

Emerson Reeves stopped in mid-sentence and stared at them. "A warrant?" he stammered. "Is there a problem? We've never had a problem here. We're most selective in our clientèle. It's not ..." he looked around to ensure no one was listening and leaned forward to whisper as though he was about to mutter an obscenity "...drugs?"

Lindsay leaned forward in the same conspiratorial manner. "No … just kidnapping and murder."

Emerson Reeves paled. "Not here … that's not possible. Oh dear! Oh dear!"

Danny was getting frustrated. "Mr Reeves, the Maggy Mae ..?"

"Yes, yes of course." He opened a key cupboard and selected a set of keys. "This way." As he led them out of the door he quickly checked around. Fortunately for him there were very few people around. "You will be discrete won't you? Our clientèle ..." Danny rolled his eyes at Lindsay as Reeves led them down a gangway. They passed a number of magnificent boats, the price of any one of them being far more than they earned in a year. At last they reached the Maggy Mae, a magnificent 70 foot motor yacht with sleek lines that spoke just one word : money. Reeves opened the gate and Danny held his hand out for the keys. Reeves dropped the keys into Danny's hand with an apology for not having had the boat cleaned as Mrs Greene had only put it up for sale that morning. Danny asked whether he had seen her but Reeves shook his head. He'd only spoken to her on the phone but according to the entry log she had visited the boat the previous evening at around 10pm. Reeves looked around nervously and asked if there was anything else.

"Don't worry Mr Reeves. We'll drop the keys back at your office. You won't know we've been here ..." murmured Lindsay in her conspiratorial voice. She suppressed a grin. "...unless of course we find any dead bodies." Danny tried very hard not laugh as Reeves' mouth dropped open and a look of abject horror passed over his face. He scurried away up the gangway muttering to himself the whole while about his clientèle. The moment he had gone Danny put his hand on Lindsay's shoulder, both their faces serious once more. They crossed the deck passing outdoor seating and a wet-bar and opened the sliding doors to the generous cockpit.

"Wow! This is something else." They stepped into the saloon. The saloon was tastefully fitted out with dark hardwood flooring and cream coloured leather seating for at least a dozen people. The hardwood fittings were polished to a high sheen and a dining table for eight sat in one corner. Danny huffed as he cast an eye over the helm. "Bet this costs a fortune." The commands to the boat were set in the right hand corner; a futuristic helm with at least four screens and navigational controls were set at the perfect angle for a driver seated in one of two plush leather armchairs. He turned to see his wife bagging a long black hair from the edge of the sofa. "Guess I'll check downstairs."

"Below decks." she corrected as Danny disappeared down a short flight of steps between the helm and the dining table.

As Danny came to the bottom of the steps he looked around at the plushly carpeted hall. He had a quick look in the rooms but all was quiet and empty. Looking to his right he decided to check out the galley first. He noticed some white powdery trace on the floor and opened his kit to scoop it up. He checked the cupboards and noted that they were still full of food. He checked the trash hidden away under the sink. As he did so he noticed a bottle of Marine Liquid Wax. He picked it up in his gloved fingers and bagged it. He showed it to Lindsay as she came down to join him. She nodded. "Anything else?" she asked.

"Just this." Danny held up the bag with the greyish white powder.

"Yeah I found some of that too across the carpet upstairs. I'll check the cabins." Lindsay picked the door opposite. "Wow!" Lindsay's voice echoed back from the master state room. "I can't believe that this is almost as big as our room back home and get a load of this bathroom."

A wry look crossed Danny's face as he lifted a print from the edge of the sink. "Don't even think about it." he shouted knowing where Lindsay was going with this though he had to admit they really needed to renovate the bathroom.

Lindsay came back out. "Looks like she cleared out in a hurry. The cupboards are empty and there's an imprint on the bed where she put a suitcase. She's running. I'm calling Jo." Danny nodded as he finished and went to check the rest of the boat.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

For the third time that day Jo Danville sat on another sofa in another apartment but this one was very different to the other two. The apartment was ultra-modern, spacious and airy. Large modern paintings decorated the high white walls and sculptures were set into individually sized niches that made it look as though the apartment had been designed to display the art. The sofa was white leather, cold and uninviting. A large glass table separated her from the man they were interviewing. He looked nothing like his driving licence. He looked several years older and more haggard than in the photograph. The happy-go-lucky smile had vanished and his eyes had a haunted look. He rubbed nervously at his arm and his glance flickered constantly between Sheldon, Jo and the front door. Sheldon tipped his head on one side as he studied the man. He glanced at Jo. She nodded at him almost imperceptibly to take the lead.

"Mr Greene." Sheldon leaned forward slightly his voice soft and calm. "It is very important that we find your wife. Do you have any idea where she may have gone."

Henrik Greene looked briefly at Jo but then turned to Sheldon. "No. We had a lunch appointment at the country club yesterday with Councillor James and his wife and then we came home. I ... I needed to rest and she said she had to go out to check the boat. I … I haven't seen her since." He continued to rub his arm and glance nervously at the door.

Sheldon nodded. "Would you mind if we checked her room?" As Henrik Greene shook his head, Jo rose automatically and looked at him. He didn't meet her eyes. "Which one is it?" Green pointed to the corridor and told her to take the one on the left. Jo nodded to Sheldon as she left. Sheldon took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Mr Greene. Do you know where your wife was Saturday afternoon?" Greene just shook his head. "Did you see her at all?"

"She received a call on Friday evening that made her angry." Greene swallowed and rubbed his arm. "She went out early on Saturday and didn't come home till it was late. After midnight. I was in bed. She didn't say where she'd been."

"And you didn't ask her?" Sheldon probed gently.

Greene suddenly became angry and defensive. "No why should I? We have a modern marriage. My wife is an independent woman. She is free to pursue her own activities. "

"And what would they be?" Sheldon asked calmly. Greene looked flummoxed for a moment. "What activities Mr Greene?"

The anger disappeared and the frightened, haunted look returned. "I don't know," he whispered.

Sheldon sighed. He didn't have time for this but he needed to remain calm or he would get nothing from the man. "Mr Greene, we believe that your wife has something to do with the disappearance of a police officer. Detective Mac Taylor." Greene looked confused. "We believe that she found out he was investigating her activities related to a bank robbery for the IRA in 1993. We also believe that she had something to with the murder of her half-brother Finbar Gunn and that now Detective Taylor may be in danger." Sheldon paused as Greene looked uncertain. However he didn't show any surprise so Sheldon continued. "I think we both know what your wife is capable of Mr Greene ..." Sheldon left his words hanging but kept his gaze locked on Henrik's.

Henrik Greene seemed to deflate as he leaned back in his seat. He bit nervously at the back of his thumb. "Please ..." he began. "...you have to believe me. I know nothing about Mac Taylor other than that my wife hates him. I don't know why. A while back she came across an article in the paper about him. A profile of his career and she was so angry, she tore up the paper and she threw a sculpture…" Henrik looked nervously at Sheldon. "I dared not ask her." Sheldon nodded in understanding. "Then one day a man came to the door. This was about 8 months ago. He said his name was Finbar and that he was her brother. She was livid that he'd come here. They went into the study but I … listened at the door." Sheldon nodded for him to continue. "He was upset about something. I heard him mention Detective Taylor by name. She was furious. She didn't know that I'd overheard. Then I read about his body being found near one of our construction sites in New Jersey. She killed him didn't she?" Henrik's voice had shrunk to a whisper.

"It is possible." Sheldon answered.

"And you think she's killed the policeman too? Detective Taylor?"

Sheldon felt sick as he answered. "I sincerely hope not."

Jo listened from the doorway. She had merely given the room a cursory glance but she could tell that Maggy Gunn or Mairead Greene or whoever she wanted to call herself had cleared out. Jo leaned against the door hoping that Sheldon could get through to the man. She had come across cases of battered husbands before and she knew that Sheldon had seen the symptoms too. Jo's stomach turned as she heard Henrik describe Maggy's anger and she buried her face in her hands when he asked if she'd killed Mac. It wasn't until that moment that she realized how much he had come to mean to her. Tears threatened to fall but she blinked them back. She almost shot out of her skin as her phone rang. "Yes Lindsay. Okay. We'll meet you back at the lab." As she hung up and placed her phone back in her pocket she looked down at the dark grey carpet in the bedroom. There were faint traces of white powder similar to that Lindsay had described finding at the boat. She bent down and rubbed some between her fingers. It was fine and greyish white almost like cement.

Jo stood up slowly as she pieced together the events in her head. She looked at the trace on the carpet and then went to check the closet. Many of the hangers were empty. There was a small safe that stood open inside the closet. That was empty too. She went to check the bathroom. There was no make-up or toiletries, no toothbrush. As she turned to leave she noticed something on the floor near the sink. She pushed aside the bin and picked it up. She froze on the spot unable to move and unable to tear her eyes away from the blood-stained metal.

"Jo?" Sheldon came up behind her and gently grasped her shoulders to help her stand. He took the item from her hand and slowly turned towards Henrik Greene who was standing in the doorway watching them.

"That's not my wife's." stammered Henrik as Sheldon dangled the silver crucifix between two fingers.

"No. It's not." confirmed Sheldon. "It's Mac Taylor's."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N : tlh45 – your wish is my command :-) LOL Actually I had intended to publish the previous chapter yesterday but we had a power cut! So here is today's chapter and I will put you out of your misery tomorrow … promise!**

**Chapter 7 **

Don Flack Junior was having a deja -vu moment. "Quinn Morrison! NYPD!" Don Flack banged on the door as the uniformed officers glanced up and down the dingy hallway and gestured to the same nosy neighbour to go back inside. "Quinn Morrison open up!" .

"Whadd'ya want now Flack?" Morrison snarled from the other side of the door. "Haven't you got any other ex-cons to harass?" Don heard shuffling sounds from inside the apartment.

"Open up Morrison." Flack yelled but the only answer he received was an obscenity. "Oh sod it." Flack kicked the door in. He stormed down the corridor. The same mangy dog sat in the same mangy chair with the same mangy bone. It growled. Don hoped that was all it would do.

"What the hell …?" Morrison began. Don pushed him backwards and leaned over him pinning him into his chair.

"I have footage of you following Mac Taylor on Saturday afternoon. Now tell me where he is." Flack's eyes burned with animosity towards the man and his nose wrinkled at the unpleasant odour than emanated from his clothing.

Quinn Morrison stared into Don's eyes and knew he was in trouble. "I swear to you that I do not know where he is now ... okay so I followed him. Maggy told me to. She wanted to know how much he knew. He checked out that fancy boat of hers and then he just wandered around looking at buildings and building sites, marking them off on that damned map of his." He took a breath as Don urged him on. "I followed him back to Manhattan. I was exhausted. Five bloody hours I followed him and he only stopped once for coffee. I left him alive and well near the 42nd street bus terminal." Morrison looked away from Don unable to meet his eyes. He looked longingly at the bottle of whiskey. Don didn't move. He knew there was something else.

Morrison licked his lips. "Maggy sent some one else to take care of him after that."

Don's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean by take care of him?"

"Follow him." A look of guilt passed over his face. "She swore she wasn't going to kill him. She said she just wanted to teach him a lesson..." His voice trailed away.

"Who did she send after him? … Quinn?" Don grabbed the man's face forcing him to look up at him.

"The Baxter boys."

"The Baxter boys? Shit!" Don stormed out, his phone already in his hand.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

The mood at the lab was sombre. Everyone looked haggard and exhausted. The office had started to empty at the end of the day but the lab techs that remained tip-toed around looking nervous and upset. Office rumours had spread like wild-fire. Everyone kept glancing at Mac's office as they walked by almost as if they were expecting him to magically reappear. No one could imagine the crime lab without him.

Jo sat with her head in her hands. Adam placed a mug of tea in front of her. She smiled at him. "Thanks Adam." She took a sip as her phone rang.

"Don? Tell me you have something." Jo listened for a while her brow furrowing as Don told her what Quinn had said. "Okay let me know." She hung up. "Adam? That list of buildings Mac got from the Buildings department. Can you put them up on a map?"

Adam nodded. "Already done." He crossed to the computer at the end of the conference table and brought up a map on centre screen. "There are thirty-two in the Tri-state area."

"Just give me the ones in Manhattan. Don said that Mac was last seen at the 42nd street bus terminal Saturday afternoon around 5pm." Jo stood up to look at the buildings. There were five in blue and two in green. "What's do the colours signify?"

"The blue ones are completed buildings with tenants and the green are active or future construction sites."

Lindsay stormed in. "Okay the white powder is a mix of sand, Portland cement, lime and a mix of synthetic acrylics. Once mixed with water it is commonly used in stucco work."

"Adam do any of those buildings have stucco work?" asked Jo. As Lindsay threw her a questioning look, Jo explained what Don had told her. "Maybe Mac was looking for a specific building to try and find evidence that Maggie killed Finbar. He seems to have covered half of New York."

Adam spun round. "None of the plans specifically mention stucco work. I mean. It's not something you find very often in modern buildings." He sighed but then suddenly sat up straighter as an idea came to him. "Wait I'll check the Landmarks Commission."

"What?"

"Maybe one of these new buildings is next to an old building that has to be preserved so if they damage it, they would need to use stucco to repair it." Adam typed furiously as Danny came in with Sheldon. "Yes got it!"

Jo and Lindsay sighed with relief. Adam pointed to a green spot on the map. "Henrik Greene has a new building slap bang in the middle of Hell's Kitchen right next to a landmarked building with a stucco work frieze. It's only three blocks from where..." His smile faded from his face as he looked at Sheldon.

Sheldon held up a plastic bag with Mac's crucifix. "It's definitely his blood and I matched a partial on it to a print Danny found at the boat and one we lifted from the faucet in Maggy Gunn's apartment."

"Okay. We have a possible location where we know Maggy has been recently. She had to have transferred trace from the site to the boat and the apartment. Adam call Don and give him the address and tell him we on our way." Jo made for the door shouting over her shoulder as she went, "...also find out anything you can about the Baxter brothers."

"Who are they?" Lindsay looked puzzled as she followed Jo.

"Muscle for hire." answered Danny. "All fists, no brains. Why are we interested in them?"

Jo stopped suddenly and wheeled around to face them. "Quinn Morrison spent Saturday afternoon following Mac. He said he left him alive and well near the 42nd street bus terminal as the Baxter brothers were there to take care of him. According to Quinn, Maggy said she had no intention of killing him. She just wanted … to teach him a lesson."

"Oh shit!" Danny looked very unhappy as Sheldon and Lindsay looked at him. "Sheldon, I think you should bring your medical bag."

Adam watched them leave. Suddenly he envied them. Most of the time he was happy to be left in the relative comfort of the lab and leave catching the bad guys to Mac and the others. This time he wished he was going too. He sighed as he turned back to the screen. What was it Jo said? "_He seems to have covered half of New York._" Why was he walking around looking at all of the buildings? He looked again at the information the Building departments planning supervisor said Mac asked for. He picked up a bunch of papers and then looked at one of the computer screens with the Greene Corporation's financials displayed on it. An idea came to mind. "Huh!" said Adam to himself. "Al Capone!"

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Don Flack pulled up his car outside the brownstone and jumped out. A young black detective, Brendan Miles waved to him from the side-walk. "They're not there. A neighbour said they went out about an hour ago on foot." Brendan pointed down the street with his radio handset. "I've got some uni's checking out the local haunts." As Don looked in the direction Brendan was indicating he saw a uniformed cop wave at them. They took off down the street at a jog. As they approached the young man, Don thought either he was getting older or the cops were getting younger. The fresh-faced kid looked as though he'd just stepped out of high-school. Don looked at his badge. O'Brien.

"We've spotted them in Rafferty's. Jackson is keeping a eye on them." O'Brien said excitedly as they set off down the street at a brisk pace. "They're sitting at the back on the right and it looks like they've have a few already. Reckon they've been fighting recently too. One of them's got a black eye. There are half a dozen civilians in there, three at the bar and three in the window so hopefully not a problem if they put up a fight." Don smiled to himself. The kid had succinctly provided all the information he needed to know without having to ask. He might look young but he was going to make a good cop. Don told him so and the kid beamed with pleasure.

O'Brien was right on all accounts. They put up a fight but it wasn't a problem. Four cops against two rather drunk street brawlers though the owner of Rafferty's wasn't too happy about the broken table and glasses.

Don Flack sat on Nate Baxter cuffing his hands behind his back. He hauled him to his feet and dumped him in a chair next to his brother. Officer Jackson rubbed his chin where Nate had decked him. He looked at Nate who sneered back. "I ain't done nuffin'!"

"That must mean that you have done something." Don grinned at Nate's look of total incomprehension and at the black eye he was sporting. "Mac Taylor. Where is he?" Don glared at the two brothers.

"Who?"

"Don't play games. The cop you attacked and kidnapped on Saturday afternoon. Where is he?" Don snarled.

"What?" Both brothers were so startled that they didn't even bother to deny it. "He was a cop?"

"We didn't know he was cop. She said he was her ex who had cheated on her."

"She just wanted to teach him a lesson."

"We didn't do anything."

"We just left him where she told us to."

"Honest we didn't know he was a cop."

Don and Brendan's heads bounced back and forth between the two brothers as they spilled their guts. Both were clearly panicked. "Where did you leave him?" asked Don. The brothers looked at one another. Don decided to turn up the pressure. He didn't have time for this. He looked at Brendan. "Okay for the time being book them for kidnapping, and assaulting a police officer."

Brendan immediately picked up on Don's tactic. "What about the murder charge?"

"Murder?" The Baxter boys looked at Don and Brendan in horror, their eyes almost popping out of their sockets,before looking at one another.

"In the alley near the old schoolhouse off Dyer."

"We didn't kill him, just roughed him up a bit."

"We just left him there. You gotta believe us. We didn't know he was a cop." Don didn't listen to the rest. He wheeled around and stormed out of the bar shouting to Brendan to book them and get everything they could about Maggy Gunn. Don swore to himself that he was going to get her if it was the last thing he ever did.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Nicole Chang ran the brush once more through her customer's hair and reached for the hairspray. Covering her customer's face she added a light dusting of spray before handing her a mirror. Nicole was pleased with her work. It was her first big job without direct supervision. She smiled at her customer in the mirror and noted with pleasure that her supervisor was nodding to her in the background.

Her customer looked at the back of her now rich auburn hair cut into a fashionable asymmetric bob and nodded. She didn't smile back but reached down for her bag. She got up and went to the desk. Nicole's face fell at the lack of reaction from her client. She had put her heart and soul into the cut and colour. She ran to get the woman's coat. She helped her on with her coat noting that it was brand-new and then pulled the print-out of the bill from the printer. Expecting the woman to hand her a credit card she was surprised when a fistful of dollars was thrown onto the counter.

"Oh ..." Nicole stammered as she met the woman's piercing blue eyes. She shuddered. "I hope that you're satisfied ..." Her customer merely nodded and disappeared through the door in a waft of expensive perfume. Nicole watched her put on dark glasses despite the gloomy evening and stepped up to the kerb to hail a cab. Nicole turned to her supervisor. "She paid cash." She said dumbly. The supervisor took it and shrugged as she counted it.

Seeing the look of disappointment on her young trainee's face. "Don't fret. You're going to meet all sorts in this job. Anyway she must have liked it. She's left you a fifty dollar tip." Nicole shuddered again. She hoped the woman wouldn't be a repeat customer despite the generous tip.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N : Okay here it is! Though I'm not guaranteeing that you're going to like it! Special thanks to my most faithful reviewers csiny96, tlh45 and mav32 for sticking with this.  
**

**Chapter 8**

Don was surprised when Adam rang to give him the same address as he had got from the Baxter boys. He pulled up in front of the building and looked up. He hadn't expected to see such a modern building squashed in between the older brownstones on either side. It seemed incongruous to see all the steel and glass towering above its more traditional neighbours. Don pulled open the trunk and took off his jacket and exchanged it for a vest. As he did so, an Avalanche pulled up. Danny and Lindsay accompanied by Jo and Sheldon jumped out. Everyone grabbed vests and guns except for Sheldon who threw a medical kit over one shoulder. Don couldn't help thinking that it may be too late for that. He shook off the feeling and reached back into the trunk and opened a tool kit. He pulled out a pair of bolt cutters. Without a word he slammed the trunk, walked up to the hoardings and heaved aside the corrugated barriers that isolated the front of the new building from the side-walk. As he stepped over the concrete supports he spotted a number of bags of leftover cement that had yet to be cleared away. He stalked up to the metal grill covering the front doors of the building and snapped through the padlock.

Danny bent down and removed the lock. Together they pushed up the grill. Danny wiped the dust off his hands and nodded at Lindsay. The same white trace. The doors had obviously just been installed as remnants of the protective plastic film fluttered as the grill rolled up. Danny tested the handle of the door but it was locked. He looked at Don who looked at Jo. Tight-lipped and ashen-faced she merely nodded. Danny stepped back as Don swung the bolt cutters at the glass. It didn't shatter being made of reinforced glass but a myriad of cracks spread out from the impact point. Don swung again and several pieces fell away. He swung again and Danny kicked at the rest of it until they were able to get through. He threw down the cutters and pulled his weapon though he kept it low. He knew in his gut that Maggy Gunn was long gone. He moved forward to check the first floor. He moved past the empty lift shafts and looked down. Nothing but darkness. Danny flashed his light but could only make out the outline of the elevator mechanism that was in the process of being installed. Don made for the stairs. He pushed open the door. He ran up the first flight and pushed his way through the next door onto the second indicating with a movement of his head that the others should go on up. Danny took the next floor up and Lindsay and Jo carried on to the next followed by Sheldon.

Jo left Lindsay on the fourth floor and was about to check the fifth when she noticed a fluorescent piece of paper at the bottom of the stairs leading to the next floor. She picked it up. "Steven Walters 10am". She gasped at seeing Mac's writing. Instinctively she knew she had to go up. She didn't know why but she flew up the stairs and didn't stop till she was at the top. Her heart was pounding and her breath came in short gasps as she reached the top floor. She stopped noticing a smear of blood on the handle. Dimly at the back of her mind she heard a voice calling her name.

Jo pulled open the door and stepped out into the long corridor that stretched in both directions. She looked down. To her left the dust was undisturbed. Stretching away to her right there were footprints and scuff marks. Cautiously she made her way down the corridor looking though the gaps in the concrete walls that would one day hold smart wooden doors leading to smart wooden desks in smart executive offices. At present they looked more like cold grey cells, the only thing lacking was the bars. Electricians had obviously been busy on this floor installing light fittings in the false ceilings. Empty boxes lay discarded in one room and a wooden pallet had been left leaning up against the wall in the corridor as they moved on to another floor. Jo slowed as she reached the pallet. A cold feeling came over her she approached the next gap in the wall. Slowly she stepped past the pallet and looked through the gap. Her heart seemed to stop and she backed away from the doorway until her back touched the wall opposite. She stood transfixed barely able to comprehend what she was seeing. She didn't hear her name being called until Don was by her side.

"Holy Mother of God!" he breathed. He was about to leap forward when Jo screamed grabbing at his arm.

"No Don! No!" The desperation in her voice caused him to hesitate. "It's a trap!" Don looked at her and then at the room opposite. Sheldon came running up having heard Jo's scream. He looked at the doorway and then at Jo.

"What do you mean a trap?" Don asked shaken by Jo's reaction.

"_Do not cross the spider's web._" Jo spoke as though she was talking to herself. Don looked at her like she had gone mad but Sheldon seemed to understand. He stepped forward cautiously and examined the door-frame. Stepping back he scooped dust from the floor and threw it at the door way. A web of red laser lights sparkled briefly as the dust disturbed the beams. They all stood immobile as Danny flung open the door and pelted down the corridor toward them, Lindsay hot on his heels.

"It's booby-trapped." Sheldon shouted as they approached. Danny slowed and looked through the opening, his eyes widening in horror. Lindsay gasped, her hands flying to her mouth.

"Mac?" Danny shouted, his voice tinged with fear and panic. "Mac?"

Everyone held their breath as very slowly the figure seated in the chair lifted his head from his chest. The black cloth tied tightly round his mouth prevented him from speaking. His eyes tried to communicate the danger as he looked to their left. They tried to peer around the corner but were unable to see anything other than some crates, cardboard boxes and discarded tools. Their eyes were immediately drawn back to the almost unrecognisable man seated not twenty feet away from them his hands gripping the arms of the chair like a ragamuffin king on his wooden throne, remnants of silver duct tape scattered on the dusty floor by his bare feet.

"Is it a pipe bomb like at the lab?" Danny asked as it began to dawn on him what Maggy Gunn had planned. Mac merely nodded. "Is there a power source for the lasers?" Again Mac nodded. "Okay Mac we have to turn off the power to the lasers. Can you reach the power source?" Mac looked at Danny for a moment then shook his head slowly as his head drooped back to his chest. Danny frowned in incomprehension. He looked at the others.

"He needs medical attention now. We've got to get in there." hissed Sheldon as he glanced back at Mac. Sheldon quivered with fury at how bad Mac looked. He'd clearly taken a beating. His face looked battered and bruised, one of his eyes was swollen shut and his hands were blackened with dried blood.

Forcing herself to focus on the essentials, Lindsay holstered her weapon and grabbed her phone. She walked a short way down the corridor in an effort to compose herself and hide the trembling in her hands. The others could hear her calling for back-up, EMS and the bomb squad.

Danny looked at the others. "I don't get it. He doesn't appear to be tied to the chair but I can't see any wires. Maybe the bomb is somehow remotely rigged to the chair he's sitting in." Danny took a deep breath and then shouted. "Okay don't worry Mac. We'll figure something out."

Jo was still frozen to the spot unable to tear her eyes away from Mac. Don looked at her and then back at his friend. Suddenly anger flared up within him. "Okay we can't go in this way so we're going to have to find another way." Everyone turned to stare at him. Don looked up and down the corridor. "If I can switch off the power source to the lasers can you defuse the bomb?"

Danny nodded. "If it's the same as the one Mac rigged in the lab."

"Okay wait here." Don marched off down the corridor. He broke the glass on the newly installed fire equipment panel with the butt of his gun and hauled out the hose. Disconnecting it he lifted out the entire hose and disappeared through the fire doors.

Danny turned back to look at Mac. He called his name again but this time there was no movement. It was as if Mac had reserved the last of his energy until they arrived and now it had been drained. "I hope Don knows what he's doing. We're running out of time." They all watched Mac not wanting to see him like that but at the same time not daring to look away in case the slight rise and fall of his chest might stop. After a few minutes a loud clang made them all flinch and the tension rose a notch as Mac made no sign of having heard the noise. They gathered around the doorway to see the metal nozzle of the fire hose bounce against the glass window.

Danny's phone rang. Startled he grabbed it from his pocket and lifted it to his ear. "Yeah! … What? Er … up another two feet." The nozzle rose slowly. "Yeah! It's dead centre but Don that's toughened glass. You'll never ..." Danny turned to look at his phone as Don hung up and the nozzle was pulled up disappearing from sight. Danny caught on to what is friend was planning "Oh shit!" Though they were a long way away they all automatically ducked as a hail of bullets peppered the glass before a figure crashed in through the window in a shower of glass and landed in a jumble of arms and legs at the far side of the room.

As everyone straightened up, Don slowly got to his feet and staggered. He spun round disorientated from his stunt and grinned at them. He tried not to wobble as he made his way over to Mac. He knelt beside his friend and whispered something to him. Then he rose and made his way to the far side of the room. "Danny, the lasers are wired to a car battery and there's a bunch of wires leading to a half a dozen gas canisters at the other side of the crates."

"Don there has to be a switch. She has to have put in a delayed switch in order to get out of the room without setting off the lasers." Don walked over to the door and looked at the lasers mounted on a frame at the other side of the opening. It seemed strange that they were only a foot apart yet they were separated by an invisible barrier. Don reached out to a switch mounted just to Danny's right but behind the door-frame out of sight. He looked at Danny then screwed his eyes up and flipped it. Nothing happened. Don opened his eyes.

"Well at least I didn't blow us up." he mused as he took a step back. "Was that it?" Somehow it seemed a bit of a let down after having jumped off the roof of a building and smashed through a window in a hail of bullets. Sheldon grabbed another handful of dust and threw it at the doorway. This time there were no tell-tale lights. Sheldon grinned at Don and staggered as Jo flew past them and dropped to her knees in front of Mac.

Danny and Don stood and watched as Sheldon joined her. Gently she placed her hands either side of his face. "Mac?" Tears trickled down her face as she tried to coax a reaction from him. Sheldon put down his case and moved to the back of the chair stepping over a discarded power tool as he did so. He looked at the chair wary of disturbing anything that might set off the bomb but there was nothing. He untied the gag and gently pulled it from Mac's mouth. He was relieved to hear Mac take a ragged breath. Mac tried to lift his head and look at Jo. A small smile played over his cracked, dried lips as he tried to whisper. Jo leant forward and listened.

Don, Danny and Lindsay approached softly, relieved to find him alive but anxious to know how badly injured he was. Suddenly Jo laughed. She turned to them her laughter mixed with tears. "He wants to know what kept us so long!"

As everyone smiled, a little of the tension easing, Danny moved round to the side of the chair. "Come on boss let's get you out of here."

"Don't move him!" Sheldon shouted. Everyone jumped at the anger in his voice. "Whatever you do don't move him." Danny and Jo looked at him in shock as Sheldon dropped to his knees and looked under the chair. Thinking there was a bomb Danny did the same at the other side but was surprised to see nothing. He looked at Sheldon through the gap but Sheldon was busy examining the underside of the arm. Don and Lindsay moved a little closer. It was then that Jo gasped.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! His hands!"

Don felt the bile rise in his throat as he looked closely at Mac's blood covered hands. He looked at Sheldon who was staring at the power tool lying on the floor next to the twisted strips of discarded tape. Lindsay gasped and grabbed at Don's sleeve. It was then that they all understood why, despite not being tied to the chair, Mac hadn't been able to move.

**A/N: And that concludes the first half of this story. Hope it wasn't too long and drawn out. The second half will deal with the team's efforts to bring Maggy Gunn to justice and how Mac handles his ordeal.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N : Wow! Thank you all for the reviews and PM's. I'm touched and I really do appreciate the feedback. Sorry for the 'shock factor' in the last chapter. Yes, the story does get a little darker from here – but before you ask it's not a death fic and yes there is always light at the end of the tunnel – but I am changing this to M to be on the safe side.**

**Chapter 9**

Sheldon Hawkes shook hands with his former colleague and friend, no longer able to look him in the eye. He merely nodded his thanks and turned away. He was grateful that they were in a part of the hospital off limits to members of the public. More than anything he needed a few minutes to compose himself before facing them. He took several paces towards the double-doors, his footsteps echoing loudly in the silent corridor. He paused if only to delay the inevitable by a few more seconds.

Simon Gallespie had met Sheldon while they were training. Although they had never become close friends Simon admired and respected him. Sheldon had been a great doctor and, though Simon was surprised when Sheldon had transferred to the medical examiner's office, he knew that he excelled in his chosen profession. It tore at his soul to watch his former classmate as he walked slowly down the corridor pausing before the doors to the waiting area. It was always hard to give family and friends difficult news and Simon felt guilty. It was his job, his responsibility to inform the group of people sitting in the waiting room of the status of his patient but somehow these people were different, this situation was different, and this patient was different. He had thought he'd seen it all. In his seven years in the emergency room, he had seen falls, road accidents, beatings, stabbings, gun-shot wounds, addicts high on some substance or other, be it drugs or alcohol. He had seen old men, young women, children, adolescents, sometimes patients that were even hard to identify at first glance but, last night, for the first time in his career, he had been truly shocked by the patient brought into his ER.

_It had been a relatively slow evening. He dealt with several minor injuries that he quickly dispatched and two elderly patients that required monitoring before being transferred to the appropriate units. There had been the usual number of time-wasters and a woman who had barely made it through the doors with a bag of groceries surprised by her baby making an early appearance. Just a run of the mill evening. As he finished with his last patient a code red had come through and he had slipped on clean scrubs, clean gloves and checked the reception area making sure it was in order. Just the same as he would for any other call. He had smiled at Sally. He liked Sally and was trying to pluck up courage to ask her out. She had smiled back before she joined the trauma team that had gathered at the doors and he had waited for them to wheel in the patient. His first surprise was seeing Sheldon Hawkes holding two IV bags and giving quiet but firm instructions to the team. They had looked at one another in surprise for less than a second, both knowing that time wasn't a luxury in their line of work and Simon knew by the look on Sheldon's face it was serious. Normally he would have sent him out at that point but for some reason that he couldn't explain he didn't. _

_Simon looked down at his patient pushing away his curiosity. Male, around fifty, severely beaten, a possible facial fracture. His eyes catalogued the visual injuries as Sally began to cut away the clothing. More bruising to the torso, definitely a broken rib or two. He immediately called for X-rays and a blood work-up. His ears registered Sheldon telling her to be careful with his hands. "Dehydration, blood-loss, falling BP, severe trauma, probable bisection of the median nerve." Simon unwrapped the trauma dressings from the man's right hand and froze at the sight of the nails protruding from the palm. Tearing his eyes away to look at Sheldon, he caught sight of his patient's other hand, a multitude of metal spikes smeared with blood lay glistening in the harsh emergency room lights. When he finally made eye-contact with his friend and his team the horror on his face had mirrored those around him. It was then that he noticed the total silence that had pervaded the normally noisy and chaotic room._

Simon pushed away the memories and pulled out his mobile phone and skimmed through the list of names. He waited for a only few seconds, surprised that the call was answered so quickly. "Dr Skelton? My name is Simon Gallespie from N.Y. General. I need a consult on a patient that was brought in the evening ... To be honest sir, I'm not sure where to start... " Simon watched Sheldon make his way through the doors to the waiting room. It was selfish he knew but he was glad it wasn't him.

Jo hadn't moved from the window since they had been shown into the waiting room. Don had offered her a seat a dozen times but she refused to move. He brought her tea but she had barely touched it. The minutes ticked by and then the minutes turned into hours. Don had expected Sheldon to join them almost immediately. Lindsay had left to relieve the sitter and Danny had had to take charge of the crime scene so Don was left with Jo. Finally the door opened and Sheldon stepped in. Don thought he had never seen him look so drawn.

"Sheldon?" Jo spun round, her eyes full of tears.

"He's stable and comfortable. We removed all the ..." Sheldon couldn't bring himself to say it as he fingered the bag in his hands. "He's going to need surgery but Simon … Dr Gallespie … wanted to get him stabilized first. Simon has called a specialist in hand surgery to evaluate the damage. The right hand isn't too bad but the left hand is more problematic."

"What else?" asked Jo nervously. Sheldon looked at her.

"Broken ribs, broken cheekbone, bruised kidneys, dehydration, blood loss, shock … I'm surprised he was able to last as long as he did."

"Can we see him?"

Sheldon shook his head. "He's sedated. It's best if he's left for the time being. He's under round the clock care."

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'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

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Dr Raymond Skelton, a lean man with sharp blue eyes and thinning grey hair studied the x-rays on the light-board next to him and then the pictures from the MRI. He turned to look at Simon. "This was some kind of accident?" he asked hesitantly, knowing perfectly well that it couldn't be so. Simon merely shook his head and swallowed. "What kind of person would do a thing like this?" Simon didn't answer. He suspected that his esteemed colleague wasn't expecting an answer to his question. "Well, the right hand shouldn't be a problem. A relatively straight-forward procedure to reconnect the nerve endings and repair the conduit. How soon do you think we can operate?"

Simon was grateful for a question he could answer. "Detective Taylor is responding well to treatment. Remarkably so considering what's he been through. His blood pressure is stable although still rather low for my liking. His oxygen count is improving. His renal function could be better but I should say if he continues to improve, we could try for the day after tomorrow." Skelton nodded as he studied the second x-ray. "What about the left hand?" Simon asked and then wished he hadn't at the pained look that came over the older man's face.

"I will, of course, do what I can but ..." Skelton's voice tapered away. He huffed as though angry with himself. "What am I saying?" Raymond Skelton looked at the serious young man. "Dr Gallespie … Simon … in all my years as a doctor and a surgeon I have never seen anything like this. And believe me … I have seen a lot, the strange, the bizarre and the unbelievable. But never … never have I seen such … deliberate cruelty. Even with a dozen surgeries I cannot repair the damage that has been done. Believe me, I wish I could. "

In order to regain control of the anger that surged through him, Raymond Skelton turned back to the medical records laid out on the desk in front of him. What kind of person could do this to another human bineg? It didn't bear thinking about. Picking up the thick wedge of paper, he flipped distractedly through the pages and then suddenly turned back again. He looked up at the younger doctor. "There appears to be some medical history missing. "

Simon nodded. "Er yes ... Detective Taylor spent several years in the Marines. We don't have access to his military records."

"A Marine?" Dr Skelton turned back to the x-ray staring at it for several minutes before grabbing one of the MRI print-outs and studying it intently.

"Er … yes Sir."

"No damage above the wrist, perfectly functional nerve endings. Despite the recent injuries he is in generally good health, in fact he appears extremely fit for his age … I wonder?" Dr Raymond Skelton looked up and Simon noticed a glint in the old man's eyes. "I wonder?" he repeated. Then he looked at his watch. "Can I use your phone?"

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Adam's fingers flew across the keyboard. As another screen popped up, he ran a finger down the screen before consulting the top-most of a huge pile of print-outs that were scattered across the desk next to him. He pushed his chair with both feet so that the chair scooted across to a second computer where he entered a few commands with a click of the mouse and a few taps of the keyboard. Adam drummed his fingers impatiently on the edge of the table. ""Come on, come on."Another screen popped up. "Yes!" he uttered triumphantly as he leaned back in his chair, his back aching from hours hunched over his keyboard. "Mac Taylor you are a genius." Adam spun round and leapt from the chair only to stop abruptly as Jo and Sheldon stood in the doorway. Adam's joy disappeared in the blink of an eye as he took in their tired and drawn faces. He swallowed heavily. "Is he …?" he stammered.

"In the hospital. Stable." Sheldon wasn't able to say anything else.

"Is it bad?" Adam asked tentatively. Jo and Sheldon looked at one another not knowing where to start. Adam sank slowly back into his chair as their silence spoke louder than words.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N : Wow! Thank you all for the reviews and PM's. I really do appreciate the feedback and I am glad that I haven't offended anyone so far. Was very worried about publishing this given the subject matter. Now why you understand that the rest of this story is M rated. I have tried to keep this from being too graphic though you will see some of what happened through Mac's eyes in the following chapters. As for this one it's Jo that is shocked by what the doctor's have in mind.**

**Chapter 10**

The few people that were in the office at such an early hour tiptoed carefully around hardly daring to disturb their colleague and friend as he sat rifling through statement after statement, frustration written over his face and in the tense lines of his body. They suspected that he had been there all night but no one dared to ask. In fact the air in the detective's office felt so tense they were sure it could be cut with a knife. By now they had all heard what had happened. Maggy Gunn's photograph was plastered everywhere. She was now the NYPD's number one wanted person.

The door to the detective's office swung open with a grating squeak that caused everyone to look up. Even Don Flack had to tear his eyes away from the pile of statements strewn across his desk. A uniformed officer pointed towards Don. He was accompanied by an attractive young Asian woman in a neat tan linen dress and ballerina slippers. She had a huge leather bag slung over one shoulder. He said something to her and she nodded before making her way across the office.

"Detective Flack?" she asked in a timid voice looking nervously at the exhausted-looking, unshaven man seated in front of her. "They told me at the front desk that I should ask for you. It's about the woman you're looking for." She pointed at the poster of Maggy Gunn. Don felt a small spark of hope as she looked at him with her penetrating dark eyes.

"Please sit down … Miss?"

"Chang … Nicole Chang." She smiled as she took a seat.

"Do you know where she is?" asked Don hopefully.

Nicole shook her head immediately extinguishing the small spark. "No I'm sorry, but I can tell you what she looks like now."

Don frowned. Nicole reached down into her bag and pulled out a magazine and a board with swatches of hair in a myriad of colours. "I work at Gloria's. On Baker Street." Nicole pointed at the poster again. "She came in on Monday. I cut and coloured her hair." Nicole opened the magazine to show a retouched picture of a pale, almost anorexic looking fashion model. "She wanted that style ..." Nicole pointed to one of the swatches in a rich auburn. "... and that colour." Don stared at the picture for a moment without saying anything. "Erm … I don't know if that helps at all ..." She broke off as Don looked up at her, something in his eyes making her catch her breath.

"Help? You have no idea … thank you." he whispered, the dying spark turning into a tiny flame. Seconds later the flame grew into a furnace.

Nicole smiled with pleasure. "I 'm sorry that I can't tell you where she is now but if you wanted to know where she went when she left the salon, you could always ask Max. He might remember where he took her."

Don couldn't believe his ears. "Max?"

Nicole nodded enthusiastically. "He drives for Star Cabs. He often hangs about outside the salon if he's in need of a fare. Our clients don't like to get their new hair-styles messed up. I saw him pick her up as she left."

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Jo sat in the hard-backed chair looking at the bandaged hand. She ached to reach out but could not. The most natural response to seeing someone in a hospital bed was to reach out and hold their hand ... to comfort … to reassure … to let them know someone was there. But she couldn't. So instead she talked, softly, quietly, hesitantly, unsure as to whether he could hear her. She told him about the latest office gossip, the weather, Ellie's soccer match, her latest argument with Tyler, the baseball results. All the while he slept a drug-induced sleep. Eventually she ran out of words, exhausted, drained, reeling from the previous 72 hours.

"He's doing very well."

Jo turned to see Sheldon's friend. She smiled weakly and nodded. Simon approached and looked at the clipboard at the end of the bed and cast an eye over the monitors. He nodded satisfied.

"Hopefully he'll sleep through till tomorrow morning. The surgery went well. Dr Skelton was very pleased. With some rehab, he shouldn't have any lasting discomfort."

Jo looked down at Mac's right hand, only the fingertips showing among the white bandages. She nodded before looking at his face again. The swelling had reduced significantly and although the bruises will still livid against his pale skin, the grey tinge had gone and he looked peaceful as he slept. Simon looked carefully at the woman sat before him. He could see how she desperately wanted to reach out. Gently he watched her place her hand on his arm well away from the bandages before slowly getting up.

"The rest of his injuries are healing nicely." He said reassuringly. "With any luck we should be able to transfer him by Monday."

Jo's head flicked round, her face a mask of incomprehension. "Transfer him?"

Simon felt a moment of panic. "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you knew …" Simon wasn't sure how to continue. He had been certain that he had see them talking the previous evening. They had seemed so close, so intimate and she was listed as his emergency contact. He had assumed that she knew. He took a deep breath. "What did he tell you yesterday?"

Jo hesitated before answering. What had Mac said? He had seemed so tired, so distant. In fact, she realized, he had said very little. She had done all the talking. "Only that you were going to operate on his right hand this afternoon, that it was a relatively straight-forward procedure, if you can call anything that takes five hours straight-forward … and that his left hand would need more radical surgery later." Jo looked at the young doctor intently. "What should he have told me?"

"He didn't explain what we have in mind …?" Simon pushed. Jo shook her head. She thought back. Mac hadn't said anything, he had just kept staring at his left hand deep in thought until the painkillers had finally taken over and he couldn't fight sleep any longer. Simon looked at Mac. "Perhaps we should continue this conversation in my office."

By the time Jo reached the doctor's small but well-appointed office, she felt as though she was going to be sick. She knew that Mac had been holding something back. It was almost as though he had been afraid to look at her let alone say anything but at the time she had put it down to him being tired, pumped full of drugs and concerned about the next day's procedure. But now she realized there had been something else.

Jo sat on the small leather couch and took a deep breath. Dr Gallespie perched on the coffee table opposite her. "What did he mean by radical? Did he mean that you're going to ..." she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Amputate? Yes!"

Jo closed her eyes and fought to keep the nausea at bay.

"What we propose … and you have to understand that this procedure is still in the experimental stage though several such procedures have been carried out successfully abroad. However it is something that cannot be carried out here hence the need for his transferral..." Jo opened her eyes at the word experimental and looked questioningly at Simon. "... er ... so what we propose is to perform an elective amputation and use tissue from his damaged hand to form a pad for the prosthesis." Simon smiled. "He won't be able to do everything that you can do with a normal hand but the mobility, I'm told, is quite impressive and Dr Skelton assures me that it is a much better alternative than being in constant pain and having years of surgery which will most likely not produce any significant results."

"Are you saying that you're going to give him some kind of ... mechanical hand?" Jo looked at the young doctor in amazement.

"Essentially yes. Dr Skelton has been working with an eminent Austrian surgeon in the field of artificial, mechatronic hands to train a specialized medical team here in the States with a view to helping our soldiers who have lost limbs in the line of duty. There is a facility in Maine equipped to carry out this procedure. Until now there hasn't been a suitable candidate for hand-replacement surgery but as Detective Taylor is a former Marine and a serving law enforcement officer, he is therefore eligible for the program. That together with the fact that the nerves in his arm are undamaged and he has excellent musculature makes him the perfect ..." Simon looked for the appropriate word.

"Guinea-pig?" suggested Jo somewhat shocked by the doctor's revelation. Simon looked a little uncomfortable.

"...initial candidate." Simon watched Jo carefully gauging her reaction which had gone from incomprehension to incredulity to what he could only describe as shock. "Detective Taylor … has agreed to the procedure. I'm sorry, I thought … I assumed that he had explained that to you last night." He finished lamely.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

"Adam?"

Adam almost shot out of his skin as Don Flack burst into the room. "Hey what's up? Is Mac …?" he stammered. Don stopped abruptly, a guilty look on his face as he saw the worry etched in the young man's face.

"Sorry Adam. I didn't mean to make you jump. I just spoke to Jo. She said the surgery went well. He's doing okay." Don sank into a chair next to him. "You'll see, he'll be back to normal in no time." Don wished that he could sound more convincing but his all too brief conversation with Jo had left an empty feeling in his stomach. He could tell that she was deeply upset about something but wouldn't say what. Don pushed his feeling away. "Anyway I've got a lead. This morning this girl comes into the station saying that she changed Maggy Gunn's hair." Don handed Adam a retouched photograph of the wanted poster. "She also tells me that a certain Max picked her up in his cab. To cut a very long story short ..." Don rolled his eyes at the word 'very' making Adam show a ghost of a smile. "I found out that she chartered a plane to Wilmington in North Carolina."

Adam looked puzzled. "Why there?"

"That's what I'm hoping you can tell me." Don looked at him hopefully. "Do the Greene's have any business dealings there?"

Adam suddenly cottoned on. Hitting a few keys he brought up a primary list. "Oh right … well there definitely isn't anything under their own names other than the apartment in Hell's Kitchen, a house in the Hamptons, the boat and apartments in Paris and Dublin." He hit a few more keys and a long list popped up. He scrolled down slowly. "Okay … so there is nothing under their main holding company. Not surprising. But I need to follow the chain as they have a number of companies within companies. I mean … it's amazing really … I would never have picked up on it if Mac hadn't been looking into their buildings here. " Adam spoke as he typed. A search bar popped up and Adam entered his search criteria leaning back to wait for the results."Mac must have spent hours on this. At first I couldn't figure out why he had all this stuff on building legislation. I got to thinking why would he be wandering around Manhattan like that but then I realized when I checked up on the Landmark's commission what he was trying to do." Adam smiled at Don.

"Well …?"

"Huh? … Oh he was doing an Al Capone! Or rather an Eliot Ness! Actually more of a Frank J. Wilson ..."

Don looked at Adam clearly thinking that the young tech had completely lost it.

"Oh. Okay! … In 1929 Eliot Ness and his team of 'Untouchables' attempted to get a conviction for Prohibition violations. They knew Capone was guilty of racketeering but were unable to prove it. Frank J. Wilson investigated Capone's income tax violations and … to cut a very long story short … he was eventually found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years."

Don looked at Adam suspiciously. "Yeah I've seen the movie too!"

"Don! Mac couldn't find evidence to prove that Maggy Gunn had ordered Colm to kill Candace Broadbent. He couldn't link her to the robbery that killed Kevin Bart though he clearly suspected she had masterminded it. He obviously tried to find evidence to link her to Finbar Gunn's murder but concluded it wouldn't hold up in court. So he was going after her from another angle like Wilson did with Capone."

Adam grabbed a handful of print-outs. "She was using the Greene Corporation as a holding company to hide other companies and she was skimming money into private accounts. She was bribing city officials to allow her husband's company to build non-authorized buildings in Manhattan that violate planning codes, urban zoning, housing policy … you name it, she did it. She's made millions. I have enough information here to finish what Mac started. " Adam's eyes sparkled triumphantly. "To build a dossier to put Maggy Gunn away for a very long time … just not for murder, or robbery … but for fraud, bribery, corruption, tax evasion not to mention breaking every law in New York's urban planning legislation!"

Don nodded slowly, impressed by Adam's dedication. "If we can find her..."

As if in answer the computer bleeped. Adam hit a key and looked at the results. "Hmm. According to this, one of the subsidiaries of the Greene Corporation has a small company in Wilmington that produces ..." Adam broke off paling visibly. "...nails."


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N : Dear reviewers. Thank you for your kind words. Yes it has been hard to write. I have had this story on the back burner for a long time and I have only just dared publish it with your encouragement. I'm afraid this is another rather dark chapter but it's time to see a little from Mac's point of view...**

**Chapter 11**

"_I said look at me!"_

_He felt as though the hair was being torn from it's very roots as she forced his head backwards. Every nerve in his body seemed as though it was on fire as the waves of pain rippled through him. He could feel her hot sweet breath on his face, the heavy musk scent of her perfume in his nostrils, the sharp bite of her fingernails against his scalp and her left knee pressed hard against him between his thighs. He fought down the bile in his throat and steeled himself to look into her ice-blue eyes._

"_That's better! I want to see into your very soul ..."_

_The loud chunking sound and hiss of compressed air announced another wave of intense pain. He bit his lip drawing blood in order to prevent himself from crying out. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction but he was unable to control the involuntary jerk as his body tried to pull away from the source of the pain. He felt nothing but revulsion as she smiled and slowly leaned forward. Her lips were mere millimetres from his when her tongue darted out to taste the blood from his lips. She pulled away and licked her lips. He could see her eyes glittering dangerously and her body quivering from the surge of adrenalin. She was enjoying every second and he felt sick to his stomach._

"_Back in the day, I saw men have holes drilled in their kneecaps to teach them a lesson." Her lilting voice conveyed the depth of her twisted notion of amusement. She hoisted the light-weight tool in her right hand as she pulled back as though to admire her handiwork. "Have you learnt your lesson … Detective?"_

_He stared at her, a faint smile touching his lips as though amused at her question. _

"_I asked if you had learnt your lesson?" Again she saw the defiance in his eyes. Red hot anger blazed though her and he felt the cool touch of steel once more against his skin._

Mac's eyes flew open as he tried to sit up fighting to catch his breath.

"Mac?"

He struggled against the hands that were pushing him down.

"Mac! It's okay. You're safe. You're in the hospital." A man's voice. A familiar voice. A reassuring voice. He fell back against the pillows closing his eyes tightly as the memories and the pain subsided. Gradually his heart-beat slowed and with it the beeping of the monitor. "No it's all right. It was just a dream. I think he's okay. Thank you." Mac opened his eyes to see a young nurse with a worried expression looking at him from the doorway. He nodded and she hesitated, smiling uncertainly before eventually retreating, the automatic door swishing closed behind her.

"What time is it?" Mac's voice was low and raspy.

"It's early – just gone nine o'clock. Take it easy."

Mac turned his head to look at the older man sitting by his side. "I'm sorry Sid."

Sid Hammerback shook his head and tried to smile though his heart was breaking at the sight of his friend. "There's nothing to be sorry for. Would you like some water?" Mac nodded. Quickly and efficiently Sid raised the head of the bed, reached for the cup and helped his friend drink.

"Thank you," Mac whispered gratefully feeling the cool liquid ease his parched throat. Sid merely nodded and replaced the cup on the night-stand. Mac raised his right hand. He was surprised to see a light cast in place of the bandages. He tentatively wiggled his fingers. They moved slightly and the movement sent a pain shooting up his arm into his shoulder and neck. Although he smothered the expletive that came to his lips, he was unable to hide the wince.

"A little early for that Mac." Sid admonished as he gently guided Mac's hand back to the pillows on which it had been resting. Mac looked at his friend with a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

"What day is it?" he asked as he realized he had lost all sense of time.

"Saturday." Mac couldn't hide his surprise. A whole week had gone by since he had made his ill-fated trip. He felt a wave of anger engulf him as he recalled the events of the previous weekend. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid. How had they known where he was and what he was doing? How had they managed to follow him without him noticing? How had they set that trap? He should have been more careful. He looked down at the mass of useless flesh and bone of his left hand, invisible under the swathes of bandages. _Stupid!_

Sid watched the play of emotions cross his friend's face, and he sighed quietly. "It wasn't your fault, Mac."

Mac huffed, the anger burning in him tightening his stomach into a knot. "How could I have been so stupid? I should have known Sid … I should have ..." his voice tailed away and the mask fell into place. Sid sighed again as he watched his friend bottle up his emotions and his pain and push them into some far corner of his mind, locked away from public view. Mac turned away from him and closed his eyes once more.

"Don has a lead. He and Danny have gone to Wilmington. It seems the Greenes have a factory there but a rather unusual one. According to Adam, it's a factory that orders high end furniture and domestic appliances." Sid smiled as Mac looked at him, his curiosity piqued. "It may look like a factory from the façade but I think it's more like a bolt-hole, and a rather luxurious one at that."

"They think she's hiding out there?" he asked quietly.

Sid nodded. "Local PD have the place under surveillance and say that the first floor is exactly what it appears to be but upstairs is another matter. They also have reports of a woman answering her description being spotted in the vicinity despite having changed her appearance again. They'll get her Mac and she'll pay for what she did." Mac's face took on a strange expression but it was so brief that Sid thought he might have imagined it. Suddenly Mac shifted uncomfortably and changed the subject.

"Is everything all right at the lab?"

Sid nodded immediately realizing that Mac was deflecting, obviously needing a few minutes to compose himself, so Sid leaned back in his chair and gave him a quick run-down of the week's cases : another gang-related shooting, an apparent suicide that was still under investigation and a love triangle. Sid chatted on for a few minutes giving Mac the juicy details of the love triangle while keeping a careful watch on him. Although he made all the right sounds and comments, Sid knew he wasn't really taking it in. Every so often he could hear Mac take a shallow breath and he could see a muscle working in his jaw.

"Do you need something for the pain?"

Mac glanced at him briefly and Sid caught another flash of that expression he'd noted earlier but again it was so fleeting it was almost impossible to identify. Mac looked down at his left hand. "I'm fine Sid."

Sid steeled himself to broach the subject he was dreading. "Mac?" Sid began, causing his friend to look up at him. "This procedure ..." Sid hesitated unsure how to continue despite having rehearsed it a dozen times that morning. "Are you sure this is what you want? I mean, what are the alternatives?"

Mac looked away. "There are no alternatives," he whispered. "Other than having to live with this ..." Mac lifted his hand a few millimetres, his already pale face seeming to blanch as he did so. "I've made my decision Sid. Besides it may help others."

Sid took a deep breath. "But will it help you? Couldn't we discuss this? Perhaps with Jo ..." Mac lifted his head sharply at the mention of her name and Sid was shocked by the expression on his face. The same expression he had glimpsed earlier.

"There's nothing to discuss." Mac's eyes blazed and the tone of his voice indicated that the topic was not up for discussion but Mac was unable to look Sid in the eyes and Sid knew that the anger wasn't directed at him. Sid was about to protest, to try to have a more open discussion with his friend when the doors swished open and Dr Gallespie came in with the nurse from earlier. She was carrying a tray with fresh bandages and medication.

"Good Morning Detective Taylor. I'm sorry to interrupt but I'm afraid you're going to have to leave now." Simon smiled at Sid but left him with no choice other than to take his leave. Sid patted Mac on the shoulder and left but not before taking a last look at his friend. Mac didn't look up. Sid walked slowly down the corridor heading to where Jo was waiting. He knew that she was hoping that he could convince Mac into delaying the radical course of action he was pursuing. He felt awful that he hadn't succeeded. Sid knew that she was also hoping that he would be able to explain why Mac wouldn't talk to them about it. Sid sighed as he pushed open the doors that led to the visitor's lounge. At least that he could explain because it had been written all over Mac's face. It was shame.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N : Dear reviewers. Thank you for your kind words and your encouragement to keep going. Sorry but this is a slightly shorter chapter.**

**Chapter 12**

Danny checked his gun and returned it to his holster. He took a deep breath and glanced over at Don whose face was drawn and grim. His arms were folded tight across his chest. With his black clothes and Kevlar he gave the impression of a panther ready to pounce.

"Okay, heat signature confirms it. There's one person inside moving around on the second floor. It's got to be her." Winston Ames, a brisk, heavy set man with penetrating eyes charged with handing major crime in the area, signalled to his men to circle the building and get into position. "You two ready?"

"Let's do it." Don's voice was so low Danny could have sworn he felt it rumble through his chest. The three men headed directly for the high, two-storey, brick building opposite where they were joined by two local officers, the taller of the two holding a small, one-man metal battering ram. With a nod from Ames, the brawny young man swung it at the double doors which immediately caved in. Danny and Don followed Ames and his second in command and headed immediately for the stairs at the rear of the property. They made their way through the small, neat front office furnished with a couple of old wooden desks and a row of phones, fax-machine and photocopier. They passed a storage area with boxes piled high on both sides and pushed through a set of plastic curtains. Both men couldn't help feeling a wave of revulsion as they passed the rows of machine tools with their baskets of nails ready for packing and dispatch. Ames and his second-in-command paused at the bottom of the stairs surveying the empty space glad that they weren't doing this on a weekday when there would normally be half a dozen workers milling about the floor. Don led the way up the wrought-iron stairs, Danny following closely behind him. They both looked at the arched windows that separated the upper floor from the factory space below them. Once upon a time there would have been fifty or sixty people below them operating individual machines and the office space would have been behind those arched windows. But with today's modern technology those sixty people were reduced to ten and judging by the orders that Adam had put together the former office space above now housed a luxury-fitted loft complete with jacuzzi and plasma TV.

Danny lifted his weapon as Don reached for the handle. His fingers had barely touched it when a volley of bullets smacked into the door causing both men to throw themselves flat against the metal stair-treads. Danny heard Flack swear as glass shattered all around them. A flying shard caught him on the cheek. They crouched low closing their eyes as they heard Ames bark orders to his men. Suddenly two loud bangs accompanied by bright flashes came from inside the loft.

"Go!" Ames yelled.

Danny and Don scrambled to their feet and entered the loft immediately splitting left and right protecting each other's back. The sharp smell of cordite assaulted their nostrils as they spread out. Suddenly a figure staggered out from behind a partition wall.

"Police. Drop your weapon!" Danny shouted.

Maggy Gunn swung her weapon towards him but disoriented and almost blinded from the flash-bang that had been dropped through the skylight by Ames' men, she couldn't focus. She staggered and tripped on the edge of the plush rug that was nestled between two huge white leather couches. As she stumbled against the couch she raised her weapon once more but before she was able to fire a shot she felt herself being thrown to the ground. The gun was prised from her fingers and her arm twisted up behind her back.

"Don't move!" Don hissed. "Don't you move!" The other officers searched the apartment and deemed it clear as Don cuffed her. Danny quickly holstered his weapon and, grabbing gloves and a bag from his pocket, quickly deposited her gun in an evidence bag.

Don dragged a struggling Maggy Gunn upright and attempted a grin. "Seriously?" Danny cocked an eyebrow. "We fly all this way for a straightforward raid and you still find the need to bring your own gloves and evidence bags with you. I thought that woman at airport security was giving you a funny look." Danny rolled his eyes secretly glad of Don's attempt at humour. He forced himself to stare at Maggy Gunn as Don deposited her on the nearest couch. Her cold blue eyes glistened dangerously as she whipped her head round to fling her now highlighted hair away from her face.

"I'll sue you for unlawful arrest." she hissed. Danny and Don exchanged incredulous looks. "You have nothing on me."

"Seriously?" Danny grinned as he repeated Don's phrase from earlier. "You just fired a weapon at a bunch of police officers."

Maggy's face was as hard as stone as she glared at them. Her voice low and menacing, she spoke slowly and deliberately. "It'll never get to court and if it does, I'll destroy him. I'll crush his pride and trample his honour and grind his reputation into the ground," she spat. "I'll ensure that every paper in the country knows that that high and mighty sonofabitch begged for mercy and cried like a girl and was finally found humiliated and disgraced in his own blood and filth ..."

Despite the disgust and anger welling up inside him, Danny spoke evenly and calmly. "What on earth is she on about Don?"

"No idea!" Don ground out barely able to contain his loathing. He hauled Maggy to her feet. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can and will be held against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?"

Maggy stared at him as though he had gone mad. "Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?" Don reiterated, his eyes blazing and his hand squeezing her arm in a tight grip. He waited for her to mutter an answer and then he produced a folded wad of paper from his pocket. "Mairead Alice Greene, née Gunn, I have here a warrant for your arrest for ..." Don couldn't help but allow a small smile to grace his lips. "... sixteen counts of fraud, twelve counts of bribery of state officials, failure to return tax declarations from 1999 to 2002, fourteen counts of tax evasion, thirteen counts of violation of New York urban planning laws, two counts of possession of illegal weapons..." He looked over at Danny who held up the evidence bag and jiggled it. "... might need to make that three!"

Both Don and Danny grinned broadly nodding to a smiling Ames as they marched the astonished, open-mouthed woman out of the building. As they pushed her into a waiting car, Don couldn't help himself. "Detective Taylor sends his regards and regrets he won't be seeing you in court." Danny signed the papers held out to him by the Marshal charged with her transfer back to New York before passing them to Don. The men shook hands and the Marshal joined Maggy Gunn in the car.

Before he closed the door she leaned across, fixing Don and Danny with an ice-cold stare. "This isn't over. Not by a long stretch. I will destroy him."

Don couldn't help but shiver at the venom in her voice.

"What the hell did she mean by that?" asked Danny.

"I don't know and I'm not sure I want to find out." Don ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He had hoped this would bring the whole sorry mess to a close but having met Maggy Gunn now he wasn't so sure.

"Do you think we should warn Mac?"

Don shook his head. "No, he's got enough on his plate. Besides he's being transferred to an army medical facility. She can't get to him there. Let's go thank Ames and his men and get to the airport and make sure she stays under lock and key." Don stalked off back into the nail factory to finalize the paperwork with Ames. Danny hesitated for a few seconds watching the car taking Maggy Gunn, part of him wishing that they had just put a bullet in her head but then he too turned away.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N : Dear reviewers. Thank you once again for your kind words and your encouragement. I'm afraid once again (!) that this is something of a short filler chapter but necessary to the next part of the story. **

**Chapter 13**

The next few days seemed to fly by. The mood at the lab was sombre as they threw themselves into their work, compiling evidence, crossing t's and dotting i's. The only mild but short-lived relief from the tension came one afternoon when Lindsay and Adam suddenly whooped and high-fived. Danny stared at them both in amazement. Even Jo stuck her head out of her office.

"What's going on?"

Danny shrugged. "No idea but it's gotta be good."

Danny and Jo walked into ballistics where Lindsay and Adam where congratulating themselves. "Can we join the party?"

Lindsay grinned at her husband. "Oh yeah!"

"We've got her for murder as well!" Adam burst out unable to contain himself.

"Wilmington just sent over ballistics from a gun hidden at the loft. It's a match to the bullet that killed Finbar Gunn." Lindsay confirmed.

"Just possessing the gun isn't enough. Can we place her at the scene of the murder?" Jo wasn't ready to move on that charge without conclusive evidence although she would have loved to add a murder charge to the list of charges Maggy Gunn was already facing.

Lindsay grabbed a file. "Well her prints are all over it and there are traces of the same marine wax that we found at her boat as well as DNA trace from high velocity spatter that confirms it was used to kill Finbar ..." Lindsay looked at the report, her face contorting into a puzzled frown. "Strange but there's also a unidentified print on the cartridge."

"Can we actually place Maggy Gunn at the scene of the murder?" Jo asked again.

Lindsay hesitated. "No, just that she possessed and handled the gun that killed Finbar." admitted Lindsay. Adam looked crestfallen.

"Keep looking into it." Jo tried to reassure them. "But it's not top priority. The DA has more than enough to put her behind bars. Besides Sinclair wants these gang-related shootings cleared up by the end of the month."

"But what if she makes bail?" Adam asked tentatively.

Jo looked unhappy as Don and Danny had told them what Maggy Gunn had threatened but Mac's whereabouts had not been communicated other than to the immediate team and it was effectively a military installation. "The DA thinks he can convince the judge that she's a flight risk and a danger to the public so there's no chance of bail. She shouldn't pose a threat to..." Jo broke off unable to say his name. By some strange twist of fate it was at that precise moment that Jo's phone rang. She paled a little as she looked at the caller ID. She took a deep breath and lifted the phone to her ear. "Dr Gallespie?" Jo listened for a few moments. "That's good. When can we see him?" she asked. "No, of course, I understand. Thank you for letting me know." Jo slowly lowered the phone and closed her eyes for a second. Lindsay place a hand gently on her arm, her face full of concern.

"Mac?"

Jo's voice quivered as she spoke. "Dr Gallespie's just heard that he's had the surgery. They're very pleased with the … results ..." Jo's hand flew to her mouth and she turned and fled from the room. Lindsay felt Danny's arm slide around her shoulders. Lab rules be damned. She turned and flung her arms around him.

Jo threw herself into her chair and buried her face in her hands, her mind reeling. She felt like she was in an emotional hailstorm with a thousand unanswered questions bombarding her, a whirlwind of emotions sending her staggering in all directions leaving her battered and bewildered. She had no idea how long she had sat there but slowly she became aware of a presence. She lifted her hands from her face and smiled weakly up at Sheldon who had perched himself quietly on the edge of her desk.

Sheldon smiled at her. "He's strong and so are you. You'll get through this." Jo tried to return his smile but she felt too drained. "I've spoken to Simon. He said he had called you. He says Dr Skelton and the team are very happy with how things have gone and Mac's doing remarkably well."

Jo nodded. "I know. It's just that I … I just wanted to see him … to ..."

"I know Jo." Sheldon looked down. "I know how close you've become."

"She said that our futures are linked but that I had to be careful or I will lose him."

Sheldon looked at Jo sharply. "What?"

"Moira Gunn. Finbar Gunn's widow. She said that I had to be careful or I might lose him … oh Sheldon this is all my fault."

Sheldon looked shocked. "What? What's your fault?"

"I was supposed to call him." Jo turned her tear-filled eyes to see him and it all came tumbling out. "He had suggested brunch on the Sunday. I was so taken aback that I just said that I would let him know. But that Friday he was busy and I had to rush out to take Ellie to the movies and Saturday was crazy busy with the kids and chores and my mother … and then I overslept … and then we got the call to the Allen murder scene and by then it was too late." Jo took a deep breath. "So I left him a message. A stupid message! If only I had called him again, I would have known he was in trouble sooner … I could have prevented … Oh God!"

"Jo! You couldn't have known what was happening. You couldn't have prevented this." Sheldon was adamant. "You are going to get through this. Mac is tough."

"But Sheldon, he hardly said a word to me. It was as though he couldn't bear to look at me and now I can't even see him."

Sheldon nodded instinctively knowing what she was thinking. "He needs time Jo. And he's getting the help he needs. Help that, at present, we can't give him."

Jo frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Jo, victims of ..." Sheldon hesitated for a second not wanting to use the word that everyone up to this point had avoided but they had to face facts and acknowledge the truth. He took a deep breath. "Victims of torture ..." He heard Jo's sharp intake of breath and winced before continuing. "... need specialized counselling. It's not necessarily the physical pain that he needs help with but the emotional fall-out. Many victims suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and, from what Sid said, we know he was having nightmares and that he was struggling with feelings of guilt and shame."

"But...?"

Sheldon raised a hand. "These feelings are normal. They are triggered by the humiliation he endured. Mac is a proud man, a strong man. He's used to being in control. He almost certainly feels he has betrayed himself … and us."

"But that's crazy …" Jo looked horrified at Sheldon's revelations. "Why didn't he just talk to me? I would have understood."

"Jo, Mac wouldn't … couldn't talk to you at the hospital because he feels he's let you down and he's too ashamed."

"Why on earth did they let him go through with the surgery?"

"There was a time factor to consider. The earlier the surgery the better the chance of success. And to be honest with that amount of damage his only alternative was to live with a useless hand and a life of pain. Although this is cutting edge technology, it's true that they could have done the surgery here in New York. The team could have been brought here but it's better for Mac to be moved into an environment with the right support network including trained counsellors. That together with the fact that he'll be among people who don't know him, who won't judge him … but who can relate to what he's been through." Sheldon gently placed one hand over hers. "Jo I know how hard this is for you but you need to give him time to come to terms with what has happened. Let him grow physically strong again. I have spoken with Dr Skelton and this technology is amazing. There is a very high chance of success. Mac will come out of this a stronger person and we need to be strong for him too when he's ready to face us."

**A/N : Fear not! Mac will be back!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N : As promised Mac is back … but not in black ;-) (**_You get extra points if you know which episode that quote is from!_**)**

**Chapter 14**

The days turned into weeks and Jo felt she was in a vicious cycle of work and sleep until the call from the courthouse finally came through. Jo wondered what on earth she was doing as she stood in front of the nondescript blue door, her finger poised over the bell. She could have gone straight home. She didn't need to be here. She could have just called but some strange intuition had pushed her to Moira Gunn's door. She pressed the bell and heard the ring inside the apartment. After a few seconds the door opened.

"Oh hello dear. Do come in. I'll put the kettle on." Finbar Gunn's widow didn't show the least bit surprise as she showed Jo into the same drab living room with the framed needlepoint pictures in the same insipid colours. Jo noticed that the one that Mrs Gunn had been working on the last time she visited was already displayed next to the others and that a new one now sat on the table with a needle pushed into it.

Moira Gunn came back in with a tray and poured Jo a cup of tea looking at her expectantly. "I just came to tell you that Maggy was found guilty today on all counts. She'll be sentenced next week and I expect she will get at least seventeen years. Although she had the gun that killed your husband we were unable to prove that she was actually the one who pulled the trigger. I am sorry."

The old lady sipped her tea and smiled. "Oh don't worry about that dear. As long as she goes to prison, that's all that matters. It's where she belongs. Besides I doubt that she was the one who pulled the trigger. Too impersonal for her. She'd have got someone else to do the shooting."

Jo was dumbstruck. "What?"

"She always liked to get others to do her dirty work for her unless it was … how do the young people put it these days … up close and personal." Moira placed her tea on the table and picked up her sewing. "Don't let your tea get cold dear."

Jo smiled and picked up her tea. She still cringed slightly at the strong sweet tea. "Mrs Gunn, do you know who she might have got to pull the trigger?"

Moira Gunn pushed her needle back and forth for a few seconds while Jo sipped her tea. When she spoke her voice was quiet and unemotional as though she was talking about the weather. "Back in the day, I heard talk of a boy called Thatch. Don't ask me his real name because I don't know it. He was a big lad, with a mass of strawberry blond hair. Covered in tattoos. He was all brawn, no brains if you know what I mean. He was known for two things, his ability to drive and his ability to kill."

Jo watched the needle flick in and out as she drank her tea and thought back to the conversation she had had with Don's father. What was he had said? They had never caught the getaway driver. Could this Thatch have been the driver the day of the robbery that killed Kevin Bart? Perhaps that was a question for Quinn Morrison? She needed to call Don. Jo was drawn from her reverie by the gentle touch of Moira Gunn's hands on hers. She watched the lady take her cup and saucer and look intently into it, her brows drawn into a frown. For some odd reason Jo found herself holding her breath.

"I've been worried about him." Jo didn't need to ask who she was talking about. "So much pain." The old lady turned the cup studying it carefully. "But I do believe things will take a turn for the better soon. There is one more hurdle to overcome ..." She looked up at Jo and smiled "... but there is gold at the end of the rainbow. Remember that when the time comes."

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

"Quinn Morrison! NYPD!" Don Flack banged on the door as the same uniformed officers glanced up and down the dingy hallway and gestured to the same nosy neighbour to go back inside. One of them rolled his eyes at Don. "Yeah I know. This is getting to be a habit. Quinn Morrison open up!" .There was no answer. Don tried the handle and, to his surprise, he found it unlocked. He looked at the two officers who both shrugged. They announced themselves and entered the apartment. They hadn't gone more than a few steps before they all brought a hand to their faces and turned around and left. Don pulled the door shut behind him for once glad that he hadn't had time for breakfast.

One of the officers looked green and leaned against the wall trying not to retch. "Okay. This is one for the CSIs." Don grabbed his phone still reeling from the stench inside the apartment. It was clear that Quinn Morrison and his dog had been dead for some time, and at that moment Don was thankful that he wasn't a lab rat. "Okay guys. Make the rounds. See if the neighbours heard anything. Start with Mrs Nosy down there."

Several hours later, Sheldon and Danny emerged from the apartment removing their coveralls and masks. Don grinned at them waving a hand in front of his nose. "I reckon you two will be hitting the showers as soon you get back." Both Sheldon and Danny sniffed at their clothing and grimaced.

"Yeah well he's been dead at least a week probably more. Sid'll be able to give us a more precise time. Cause of death is strangulation by someone with big hands. The dog was hit over the head with the whiskey bottle. Repeatedly." Sheldon looked grim. "However, we do have one bit of good news … looks like we should be able to get prints off his neck and maybe off the bottle if Adam can put it back together. The perp must have had something greasy on them. We can tell you what when we get back to the lab."

"You get anything from the neighbours?" asked Danny.

Don gave him a scornful look."You've got to be kidding me. Even Mrs Nosy who sticks her head out of the oddr at every sound saw nothing, heard noting, knows nothing. Bloody typical! Right I'm heading back." Don looked at them suspiciously. "You did drive yourselves over didn't you? 'Cos you're sure as hell not coming back with me." Danny pulled his arm back in a mock punch which sent Don high-tailing it out of there. "Meet you guys back at the lab."

Don got into his car and called Jo to give her an update. When she answered it was clear that she was outside. When he asked where she was he recognised the address as being close by and offered to give her a lift back. He drove a couple of blocks and spotted her outside a coffee shop. She waved and he pulled over.

Jo opened the door. "Go park. I'll buy you coffee and Danish."

"Jo Danville, you are a wonderful woman." Jo flashed him a big smile, the first he had seen from her in several weeks. He looked at her for a moment. "You seem … happy?"

Jo nodded. "I've just got a good feeling about today."

Don felt like Jo, an hour later when they rode the elevator up to the crime lab. There was nothing like the combination of freshly brewed coffee and chocolate and hazelnut Danish pastry to make him feel better despite having got caught in a shower of rain. Jo was running her fingers through her hair to try and dry it. Exiting the elevator Jo was about to head towards the changing rooms when they both froze. The door to Mac's office stood open and peels of laughter were coming from inside. Jo and Don looked at one another and rushed to the door. Danny, Lindsay, Sid and Sheldon were all stood in a half-circle hooting with laughter at Adam whose face was bright red and stammering that that wasn't what he meant.

As she walked into the office, Jo felt her heart leap. Sitting nonchalantly on the edge of his desk Mac offered her a shy smile. For a moment she was unable to do anything other than stare at him. He had lost a lot of weight but his face was tanned as though he had spent time outside. His hair had grown longer and curled softly around his ears and temples. His soft blue v-necked sweater served to highlight his blue-green eyes that were sparkling and looking at her with an expression that she had never seen before but one that made her heart melt. She felt her smile get wider and wider but she seemed rooted to the spot despite desperately wanting to rush over and throw her arms around him.

"I'll be damned." Flack stuck out his hand and pushed past her. The two men shook hands and embraced. "Mac! It's so good to see you buddy." Flack could hear his voice crack a little so to cover up he cleared his throat. "What the hell are you all laughing about? What's so damned funny?"

Mac took a side-glance at Adam who went even redder.

Danny rocked back on his heels and nodded at Mac. "Adam just had the temerity to ask Mac if he could crush balls?"

"I meant tennis balls … like Steve Austin … the Six Million Dollar man." Adam blustered referring to the 1970's TV show.

"I thought that was the Bionic Woman!" giggled Lindsay. Everyone laughed again.

Jo looked down at Mac's left hand. From a distance it didn't seem any different.

"Apparently it can handle 140 pounds. That's one helluva piece of engineering," said Sheldon admiringly. "How much manoeuvrability do you have?" The scientist in them taking over, they all leaned ever so slightly closer eager to know how it worked. Mac couldn't help but smile as they all looked liked children faced with a new and amazing toy on Christmas morning. He pulled up his sleeve to reveal the flesh coloured prosthesis strapped to his forearm.

"Bear in mind I only had it fitted a few days ago. It works by taking electrical impulses from the muscles in the residual limb. I just need to learn to control the muscles to trigger the right movements. I still need more practise but here goes..." He reached out for the soda can on the edge of his desk. Clearly concentrating, he opened the fingers of the bionic hand and closed them gently around the can, lifting it off the desk. "There are electrodes on the inside of the socket that detect the electrical impulses and then send them to a mini-computer in the palm which translates them into movement like so. "As he slowly rotated the wrist, they could hear the faint whirring of the motors in the hand. Gently the can turned and soda poured from the can into the cup. Suddenly the hand jerked and soda split. Mac grinned sheepishly as he replaced the can on the desk. "Like I said, I need a little more practise. It still takes me twenty minutes to tie my shoes."

"I think it's brilliant." Lindsay smiled. "I'm so glad you're back. We've missed you." Mac's shy smile returned as Lindsay glanced at Jo who still hadn't moved. "Well some of us have work to do haven't we dear?" Lindsay pulled at Danny's sleeve. "So you carry on practising Mac and … er... Jo will fill you in on the latest developments."

Getting the hint, the whole team, with the exception of Jo, headed for the door. Adam paused before he left. "Oh by the way Boss, Steven Walters … he got seven years." Mac frowned in incomprehension feeling he should know the name but not quite able to place it. "He was the guy at the planning office that you saw the morning you … er …" Adam saw the flash of recognition in Mac's face. "... well he was taking bribes from Maggy Gunn. He called her after you made an appointment with him on Friday and again after your meeting on Saturday … he was the one who set you up. I just wanted you to know that we got him." Adam turned to leave.

"Adam?" Mac's voice was low. Adam turned back. "Thank you … for everything. I know that you've worked night and day to build that dossier. I've had messages of congratulation from the fraud squad and the Commissioner's anti-corruption team. I am truly grateful." Adam coloured at the praise in his boss' voice.

"Hey I only finished what you started Boss." Adam smiled as he shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Speaking of which, how exactly did you get into my files?" Mac's eyes sparkled with amusement.

Adam's eyes opened wide. "Ah yeah! That … er … extenuating circumstances … er ..." Adam searched desperately for an excuse. He pointed at Jo. "She made me!" And with that he shot down the corridor. Mac chuckled to himself and turned to Jo but his face dropped the moment he saw tears in her eyes.

"Jo?"

Jo's finger's fluttered in front of her mouth. She felt her stomach flip over as he approached her. She tried to hold back the tears but a single drop escaped and rolled down her cheek. For a moment they looked at one another but there seemed to be so much to say that neither was able to speak. Mac stepped closer and raised his right hand cupping her cheek and gently wiped away the tear with his thumb.

"I believe I still owe you brunch, that is, if you still want to..." he began hesitantly. Jo looked into his eyes. She could see the fear and the uncertainty in them. She nodded.

"Yes I do. Very much."

Mac took a small ragged breath and smiled. Stepping back he lifted his right arm. "Shall we?" he asked with exaggerated mock politeness.

Jo nodded and hooked her hands around his arm. Lindsay, peering around the corner, smiled to herself as she watched them leave. She sighed and rolled her eyes heavenward as she heard "Boom!" come from the trace lab and she turned to see what Danny had come up with.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N : Thank you csiny96, tlh45, Lilmizmoz, mav32 and Swarovski for being the only ones brave enough to stick with this story and being so faithful as to review every chapter despite the difficult subject. Bless you! I have to admit I am rather regretting publishing this but it's too late for that now so on with the story which is drawing rapidly to it's conclusion – thank goodness! Again sorry this is rather short but ... you know how it is! More tomorrow!  
**

**Chapter 15**

Danny and Lindsay were comparing notes when Sheldon rushed in. "Adam's got something. Is Don still here?"

Danny nodded. "At the vending machines. I'll go get him."

A few minutes later Danny and Don caught up with the others who had been joined by Sid in the AV lab. Adam tapped a few keys. "Okay this is surveillance footage from the NYPD traffic cam just down the street from Quinn Morrison's apartment block. This is a week last Friday." They all watched as a large man in coveralls and baseball cap carrying a tool-kit walked down the street and entered the building. Adam froze the picture so they could clearly see his tattooed arms.

"Could this be the guy that Moira Gunn told Jo about? Thatch?" asked Lindsay.

"He certainly fits the description." Don noted thoughtfully as Adam tapped a few more keys. A series of green lines appeared on the screen comparing the man's height to a nearby car and mailbox.

"According to this he's about 6''2'," Adam said. "Pity we can't see his face."

"He must have known about the camera because he keeps his back to it at all times. How long was he inside?" asked Don. Adam fast-forwarded the video and the image changed to the same man coming out and walking in the opposite direction away from the camera.

"14 minutes."

Don nodded thoughtfully. "Well that's certainly enough time. There were no signs of forced entry. Quinn must have let him in. He did the deed, cleaned up and left. "

"Yeah, well he didn't clean up well enough," commented Sid. "I've just pulled a very nice print from our vic's neck..." He turned to look at Sheldon who in turn looked at Lindsay.

"...which matches the print you got from Wilmington. That unknown print on the cartridge of the gun used to kill Finbar Gunn."

Lindsay looked thoughtful. "So this guy could be the shooter not Maggy? He wiped his prints off the gun but forgot about the cartridge. When I ran the print it matched a couple of unsolved B&E's and a bodega robbery from a few years back. And now it looks like he killed Finbar and Quinn Morrison. But we still have no ID." She was distracted from her analysis by Don's phone. He excused himself to take the call.

Adam swivelled around in his chair. "I've tried running the name Thatch through DMV but there are dozens of possibilities especially if it's a shortened version of Thatcher. I mean it could even be a nickname. Even narrowing it down to white Caucasian men between forty and sixty still leaves us with a list as long as my arm. Without more to go on ..." Adam shrugged looking apologetic.

"We have to find this guy. Now." Everyone turned to look at Don, the urgency of his voice raising the alarm. "That was central. Henrik Greene's body was found an hour ago. A man answering Thatch's description was seen leaving the building early this morning. He's cleaning up." The joy that they had all felt when Mac had walked back into the lab vanished in seconds as they all realized the consequences of Don's words. "Where is he now?" No one needed to ask who Don was referring to.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Mac guided Jo into the diner waving a greeting to the man behind the counter. He guided her to a booth at the back and sat opposite her. He placed his arms on the edge of the table cupping his left hand in his right as though trying to hide it and waited until she had taken off her coat and was settled. "I want to apologize, " he began quietly. Jo opened her mouth to speak. "No hear me out please. I'm sorry that I shut you out, that I didn't talk to you about the surgery ... about what happened. I'm sorry that I left like I did. Please know that I didn't mean to hurt you. It was just that I couldn't bring myself to … to look you in the eyes … I was afraid … I was afraid that you would see me differently … that you ..." He paused drawing his lips into a tight line and swallowed.

Jo could see how much he was struggling. She reached out and took his hands in hers. She ran her fingers over the scars on his right hand and felt him tremble slightly. She was surprised by the feel of his left hand. She had expected it to feel hard and cold but the silicone skin was soft and warm to the touch. She felt his fingers tighten a little around hers.

She looked up at him. She could still see the pain in his eyes. "I know and I understand but there is something you need to understand too, Mac Taylor." Jo tightened her grip on his hands. "There is nothing in this world that will make me see you differently. You are still one of the strongest, kindest, most caring, most courageous men I have ever met and nothing will ever change that. All I need to hear from you now is your assurance that you're … okay."

For a moment Mac didn't say anything. His eyes glistening, he nodded slowly and then in a voice that was barely a whisper. "I'm getting there Jo … especially now that I'm back with you."

Jo felt a little of the tension that had built up within her dissipate. As she smiled at him, she realized that the waitress was hovering nearby obviously having picked up on the intimacy of their conversation and unsure as to whether to interrupt or not. "Let's order. You look like you need feeding up. You've lost weight." She released Mac's hands and reached across to pass him a menu.

"Must be all the exercise I've been getting." Jo raised her eyebrows questioningly. "It was necessary to improve the muscle tone in my arms and upper body so I've been working out with weights, swimming, and cycling several hours a day." Mac glanced up from menu to see Jo looking at him with a wicked look on her face. "What?"

Jo glanced down at her menu trying to hide her smile but allowing a little tease to enter her tone of voice. "Nothing. Just that I thought your muscle tone was pretty damned good before." Mac blushed nicely for her and Jo grinned as she waved to the nervous young waitress.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

He watched them leave the diner and walk down the street arm in arm like an old married couple. He looked thinner than the last time he had seen him but it was definitely him. So she was right. He was back. Well there was nothing he could do now in broad daylight on a busy street. He would just have to bide his time but time was something he had in abundance. Besides she wanted him to take his time with this one. How had she put it? That's right, 'teach him a little lesson first'. He pulled his face into a lop-sided grin. Perhaps he would treat himself to some candy before he got down to work.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N : Thank you , thank you, thank you for the encouraging PM's and reviews. Sorry about slight panic attack when publishing yesterday's chapter but I tend to worry when I think I have offended my readers and as this story isn't quite done with the angst yet I am still nervous every time I publish a chapter ... sorry!**

**Chapter 16**

Don Flack drew his car up in font of Mac's building with a screech of tyres. He slammed the door and ran into the building. Nodding to the super who recognized him, he made his way up to Mac's apartment. Jo answered the door almost immediately. "He okay?"

Jo looked white. "I'm not sure. He's just showered and is getting dressed." She nodded in the direction of the bedroom.

"Where is it?" Don asked, his jaw tight.

"On the kitchen counter. There are gloves in Mac's kit on the floor." Jo followed Don into the kitchen and watched as he grabbed two gloves from the silver case that was sat propped up against the cupboard. Don carefully lifted the plain brown padded envelope, tipping out it's contents. Jo heard him swear under his breath as the blood-covered nails rolled across the counter. They exchanged glances.

Don let out a long breath. "Where did he find it?"

Jo looked hesitant. "I'm not sure," she repeated. Don frowned. "He hasn't said anything. I think he needed some time … to compose himself." Don nodded in understanding and stepped closer. "What happened?" he asked quietly.

"He called me around six and I came straight over. Don he was just sitting on the floor staring at the envelope. He didn't say anything. Sheldon said that he might still suffer flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks but that it was best to let him work through them in his own time and let him talk when he was ready. I took the envelope from him and sat with him. After a few minutes he seemed to come back to himself. It was as though he didn't remember calling me. He seemed to have no idea why I was there." Jo broke off as they heard a door close.

They moved apart as Mac came into the kitchen. Don couldn't help but notice how pale he looked. His hair was still wet from the shower and his dark blue tee-shirt clung to him as though he hadn't dried properly. Don also noticed that his feet were bare. Mac stared at the nails on the counter-top for a moment before using his left hand to move them around. His voice was dispassionate when he finally spoke.

"They're not the same nails. These aren't the kind used in a nail-gun." He moved the envelope closer, again using his left hand. "Better get this to the lab. Adam might be able to get prints or trace."

"Where did you find it Mac?" Don asked gently as he exchanged looks with Jo. He didn't like the lack of emotion in his friend's voice. It was almost as though the person was as lifeless as the hand that was moving the nails back and forth on the counter.

"On the doormat. Someone rang the bell. It was just lying there. We need to get Adam to pull footage from the security camera out front."

"I'll handle it Mac." Don placed a hand on his shoulder. Mac didn't look up but merely nodded and, turning, went to the mezzanine, opened the window and stepped out onto the balcony. Don looked at Jo. "Stay with him." Jo nodded. Don scooped up the nails and the envelope and pushed them angrily into an evidence bag. He had to find this guy. As he left he took one last look at Mac standing on the balcony. Don felt the rage boil up inside him. Even from in prison she was still torturing him.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Adam almost shot out of his skin as he looked up from his microscope. "Whoa! Boss! Sorry I didn't hear you ..."

"It's okay Adam. I'm sorry I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that." Adam stared at Mac open-mouthed. He'd heard what had happened when Don had brought in the envelope that morning and he was astonished to see Mac standing in front of him as though nothing unusual had taken place. Adam looked around expecting to see Jo but no one was in sight then he remembered that she had a meeting at the D.A.'s to wrap up the gang murders. "Find anything useful?" Adam was forced to return his attention to Mac not entirely sure whether he should be showing his findings to his boss given the circumstances.

"Er, yes … actually." Adam jumped up offering his place to Mac. Mac peered through the scope. "It's food-grade mineral oil, specifically butcher block finish." Adam passed Mac a folder. "The blood on the … er … nails is pig's blood, specifically blood from a pig's liver."

Mac tipped his head on one side. "Am I sensing a theme here?"

Adam nodded. "Whoever killed Quinn Morrison had butcher block finish on his hands. Whoever sent you those nails placed the envelope on a surface that had been wiped with butcher block finish and rubbed the nails with blood from a pig's liver."

"Possibly someone who works in a butcher's?"

"Or someone who knows how to look after a butcher's block properly."

"Someone called Thatch?" Some nuance in Mac's voice caused Adam to look up wondering if his boss was all right.

"Erm yeah, I pulled the footage from the security camera outside your apartment block. It's the same guy we saw on the camera near Quinn Morrison's."

"Coveralls, baseball cap and tattoos?" Mac asked. Adam swallowed nervously not liking the distant tone that Mac's voice had taken.

"Yeah but his face is always hidden from the camera and we're still no closer to identifying him," he moaned.

"That's not true." Mac looked intently at Adam for a second before continuing quietly. "We know he's someone who works for … Maggy Gunn ... who knew Quinn Morrison well enough to get into his place, and who probably has deep ties to Hell's Kitchen. Lindsay said that his prints were found at two B&E's and a bodega robbery which all took place in that vicinity. He was potentially the driver in the robbery that killed Kevin Bart. We know that he's 6'2'', well-built, with strawberry blond hair and has to be in his late forties or early fifties and possibly works in a butchers." Mac stated matter-of-factly much to Adam's astonishment. "What we need now is someone with a phenomenal memory and knowledge of the Hell's kitchen crowd." Mac looked at him with a sly smile. "And I know just the man."

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Donald Flack Senior opened the door with a big smile. "Mac Taylor. It is good to see you. Come in. Come in." He looked Mac and up and down as they shook hands taking in his black cargo pants and sweater. "Casual. Off-duty huh? Join me in a beer?" He looked hopefully at Mac who nodded. "Donnie grab us a couple of beers." He led the way into the living room and eased himself down into his chair gesturing for Mac to sit opposite him.

"Not really off or on duty. Strictly-speaking, I'm not officially back at work for another few weeks."

The older Flack looked at him intently and asked quietly. "How are you coping Mac?"

"I'm getting there. I've got a lot of good friends helping me out." Mac smiled at Don as he came out of the kitchen with three beers. Don passed him one. Mac reached out with his right hand grateful for the cool beer on a warm day especially as he hadn't had one for several months.

Don grinned at him. "Shouldn't you be practising?"

Mac chuckled but took the beer with his right. He lifted his left hand. "A little soon for drinking in polite company. I still can't manage shirt buttons." He nodded down at his sweater. Don's father peered curiously at his hand. Mac obliged by putting down his beer, pulling up his sleeve, moving the fingers and rotating the wrist to hitch up the other sleeve. "But I can hitch up sleeves!"

"Look at that. Amazing what they can do nowadays." He suddenly looked up at Mac and raised his beer. "I'm glad you're here Mac and I'm glad that bitch is in prison. She always was a nasty piece of work that one. Did Donnie tell you she ripped half my hair out when I arrested her brother?" He laughed as he took a swig from the bottle and looked at them both intently. "Now what brings you here?" Mac shook his head in amusement. Don's father was a perceptive man and like his son, a straight-down-to-business, no-nonsense, sort of a guy.

"Dad, do you remember anyone from the old days called Thatch?" Don passed his father a copy of the photograph that they had taken from outside Mac's apartment. "Big fella, around 6'2'', tattoos, strawberry-blond hair, could possibly have been the getaway driver in the Kevin Bart case. He'd be in his late forties, early fifties now." Don Flack Senior deposited his beer on a table and put on his reading glasses. He peered at the photograph shaking his head gently.

"It's possible he works in a butchers," added Mac.

The older man's head shot up to stare at Mac over the top of his glasses and then down at the photo again. "Butcher's shop you say?" He took his glasses off and thought for a moment. "There was a meat market just off 9th, ran by a miserable old fella' called Thackeray O'Leary. We had the place tagged as a front for the gangs. Gun running and such. He's dead now of course … but he had a son. Used to deliver the meat and, I suspect, other things. Big lad. He was one for tattoos. Don't recall his name but he could be the one you're looking for. What's he done?"

"We believe that he killed Finbar Gunn, Quinn Morrison and Maggy Gunn's husband Henrik Greene. " Don answered his father but the older Flack was looking directly at Mac, his face drawn into a deep frown.

"She's getting him to clean up?" he asked. Mac nodded. A very perceptive man. "She after you too?"

Mac shrugged. "Maybe. She got him to send me a packet of bloody nails."

"Bitch!"

Both men turned to look at Don as he answered his phone. They watched as his face turned into a mask of rage. "Is she all right? Okay. We'll be right there." As Don turned to look at him, Mac felt his blood turn cold. Instinctively he knew what he was going to say before he said it. "It's Jo."


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N : Thank you , thank you, thank you for the encouraging PM's and reviews. Glad that no one is too shocked … so far! On with the angst ...**

**Chapter 17**

Barely ten minutes after leaving his father's, Don pulled the car up outside Jo's apartment block. He hadn't even shut off the engine before Mac jumped from the car and sprinted past the squad cars across the side-walk to the waiting ambulance, it's lights still flashing. Jo raised her head and pushed away the paramedic flinging herself into Mac's arms. As she did so, Don was horrified to see the blanket fall away revealing her bare arms smeared with blood.

Mac could feel her trembling. He held her for a minute and then, brushing her hair away from her face, raised her chin to look at the cut on the side of her face that was already sporting two butterfly strips.

"My God Jo!"

"I'm okay Mac. Really. It's not my blood. " Mac looked down only then realizing that the blanket had fallen away and she was only wearing a thin silk camisole streaked with smears of blood. Her arms and hands were smeared red too and there were wet patches on her pants and shoes. "I need to wash. I need to get back into my apartment. Please," she begged.

Without taking his arm from around her, Mac looked around and signalled to the rookie who was standing outside the building looking nervous clearly having recognized the head of the crime lab and wondering if the rumours were true. "Is it clear?" Mac's authoritative voice rang out causing a few heads to turn.

"Yes-sir." The rookie's eyes opened wide as saucers.

Mac turned to look at the paramedic who knew what he was going to ask. "It's not too bad but if she has any dizziness, nausea, headaches, blurry vision, you'll need to bring her to the ER." Mac muttered his thanks and, spotting Jo's bag, he grabbed it from the back of the ambulance and led her from the scene, totally oblivious to the looks he was getting from the paramedic as well as the uniformed officers who were exchanging glances and staring openly at the prosthesis holding her bag.

Twenty minutes later, Mac opened the door for Don letting him in. "It's got to be Thatch. She didn't get a good look at him but she said he was big, white-skinned, wearing coveralls and a baseball cap. He ambushed her in the parking lot. Threw her against the car disorientating her and dumped a bag of blood over her. Not human – probably more pig's blood." Mac ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Don could see a muscle working in the side of Mac's jaw.

"Is she okay?" asked Don as he glanced down the corridor where he could hear the drone of a hair-dryer.

"More shaken than anything." Mac pinched the bridge of his nose where a head-ache was beginning to form. "We need to process the parking lot."

"Danny and Lindsay just arrived. They'll take care of it. Sheldon is working on the Henrik Greene case." Don threw himself down on Jo's sofa. "This Thatch is a busy boy."

"Don. She's got to be communicating with him somehow. Can you check who she's calling from prison? Who's visited her? If she knows others on the inside who could get a message out?" Don nodded. "Has Adam been able to narrow down his list of potential IDs?"

"He's running the searches now. He promised to call as soon as he had something."

Both men looked up as the hair-dryer was shut off. A few seconds later Jo appeared looking pale, the cut standing out against her skin. Don jumped up. "You want something? Can I make you tea?" Jo smiled weakly and nodded gratefully. Don disappeared into the kitchen glad to be able to do something.

"You okay?" Mac asked, his face a mask of worry. Jo smiled as he wrapped his arms around her and she buried her face in the crook of his neck breathing in deeply to fill her nose with the scent of his cologne to try to dispel the odour of the blood that still seemed to linger despite the shower. However, they sprang apart as the front door flew open.

"Mom?" Ellie flew across the room dumping her school bag and flung herself into her mother's arms. "What's going on?"

"I'm fine. It's nothing." Jo tried to assure her. Ellie looked at her mother, terror in her eyes.

"It's not nothing. You're hurt. Who did this?"

"Ellie I'm fine. Really." Ellie didn't look convinced and turned to look at Mac.

"Is this the same person that hurt you?" she asked. Mac glanced at Jo who looked just as surprised as he was that Ellie had cottoned on that quickly.

"No she's in prison. This is someone else working with her but we're very close to catching him and I promise you I will catch him and he will never hurt you or your Mom again." The simple, firm manner with which he addressed Ellie reassured her immediately making her offer a weak smile. She looked up at Jo as if to reassure herself that she really was all right, and then back at Mac and at his arm. "Does it hurt?"

Mac looked down only then realizing that, for the very first time, he had totally forgotten about it. He hadn't even realized that his sleeves were still pulled up and that he'd used it to carry Jo's bag. He smiled at Ellie. "No. Not any more." He could see the curiosity in her eyes. When Don came back in with the tea he was surprised to see Ellie curled up next to Mac with his hand in hers listening fascinated by his explanation of how the prosthesis worked. Don grinned at the look of amusement on Mac's face as Ellie told him how cool it was. He handed Jo her tea and sat next to her on the love-seat opposite them. Jo arched an eyebrow at him.

"What?" he said, his mouth full. "Your teddy bear cookie jar practically begged me to try one … or two."

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Mac had been reluctant to leave Jo but he knew she needed to rest and spend some time with Ellie. Don offered him a lift home but he made an excuse about needing groceries and said he would take a cab if necessary. Mac felt the need to walk, to think, to try and wrap his head around what was going on. He shivered slightly as the cool evening breeze penetrated his sweater. The earlier shower had helped the city cool down a little after the heat of the day. Mac set a brisk pace needing to walk off the rage he felt inside. He was angry at himself for his reaction that morning. He could still feel the mortification as he realized that he was sitting on his kitchen floor, with Jo next to him having no recollection whatsoever of having called her. He had been told that this type of reaction was normal, that it was a self-defence mechanism but he was still irritated at his own lack of self-control. He was furious that Maggy Gunn was still able to get to him despite the fact she was in prison and, worst of all, that she was using Jo. He'd told Don to make sure the team was particularly vigilant but the thought that they might be caught up in this made him feel sick to his stomach. He couldn't risk anything happening to them because of him. He tried to block out the image of Jo outside her apartment, blood smeared on her hands and arms, her eyes begging him to take her up to her apartment. He felt another surge of anger well up inside him and he continued to walk in a vain effort to control it.

Lost in thought and no longer recognizing where he was Mac drew to a halt and looked around for a landmark. He turned and looked up at the glass and steel building towering above him. His eyes alighted on the hoarding that announced '_The Future is Greene!_' Suddenly it seemed as though the buildings were closing in on him, and people were staring at him, jostling each other in their hurry to get away. It felt as though the world was spinning and the sounds of the city were growing louder assaulting his ears. The neon lights from a nearby bar cast a red glow over his hands and clothes. He began to feel pressure build up inside him. His throat tightened. His breathing quickened and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He pushed past a group of businessmen on their way to the subway oblivious to their glares and cries of indignation. He plunged across the road ignoring the blasts from the horns and the raised fists of the drivers. He found himself breaking into a run, desperate to get away from the noise and the glare. Then he saw the railing and the trees ahead of him. Like a thirsty man in a desert he prayed it wasn't a mirage. As he ran into the park, the tight feeling in his chest eased a little and he slowed his pace. The crowds returning home after a days work began to thin out and he began to feel less oppressed. He somehow felt that the air was freer and that he could breathe more easily. He came to a stop beside a bench overlooking the lake, his chest heaving from the exertion. He leaned heavily on the bench and tried to get his breathing under control, and little by little his heart rate slowed. He lifted his eyes and he watched the birds gliding silently across the water leaving small gentle ripples in their wake. He found himself wishing that he could dive in and swim through it's depths letting the cool dark waters close over him and wash everything away.

He had no idea how long he had stood there but he was pulled from his thoughts by the insistent ringing of his phone. He reached for it automatically. He fumbled as he took it out of the pocket of his cargo pants. He didn't recognize the number so he answered with a curt "Taylor." There was a moment of silence, then a click and for the third time that day his blood ran cold as the all too familiar voice whispered in his ear.

"_Have you learnt your lesson … Detective?_"


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N : Almost there! Only 2 more chapters to go … those who do not like anything too graphic may wish to skip the central section with the italics and scroll down to the section break!**

**Chapter 18**

Lab techs heading for a coffee break scrambled out of the way as she stormed down the corridor, her long white shirt billowing out behind her like a galleon at full sail. Adam cowered behind his computer monitors as she entered the AV lab. Danny threw Lindsay a look that said "Here comes trouble."

"Sheldon, what the hell happened? Why didn't you call me?"

Sheldon had been expecting this. "Jo calm down. He's fine. I didn't call you because you needed to rest and so did he. It was nothing Don and I couldn't handle."

Jo threw her hands in the air setting her jewellery jingling as she let out a groan of frustration. "That's not the point. You should have called me. Just tell me what happened."

Sheldon took a deep breath. "Late yesterday evening Adam tried to call him with the results from the search but his phone kept ringing engaged. Don swung by his place but the super said he hadn't come back. So Adam triangulated his phone. We found him in the park and took him home. End of story."

"Don said he was soaked to the skin ... that he must have been there for some time. Did he black-out? What caused it?"

Sheldon looked uncomfortable, hesitating before answering. "He didn't recall anything but we reckon he was there for well over an hour. The call he received triggered the episode. "

"Who was it? … Was it her?" Jo looked horrified. "How is that possible?"

Lindsay reluctantly lifted an evidence bag containing two small black items. "Jo it was a recording. An MP3 player linked to a disposable cell. As the line was still open and the player was left on repeat, Adam was able to trace the source. It was left at the building where we found Mac."

Jo looked at Lindsay's pale face and began to feel a little sick herself. "What did she say?" For a moment no one spoke then Danny cleared his throat.

"Jo, Maggy Gunn must have made the recording when she … " Danny couldn't bring himself to use the word. "... when she was holding Mac."

"What?" Jo felt herself sway a little. "Are you saying she recorded … everything?" No one answered but looked nervously at one another. Jo gritted her teeth. "Play it."

"What?" Adam's head shot up to look at Jo in horror. Even Danny and Lindsay looked at her in surprise.

"Play it Adam." Jo demanded, her face impassive. Adam looked pleadingly at Sheldon who merely nodded knowing that she needed to hear it even if he didn't want her to. Adam hesitated before hitting a key on the computer in front of him. He chewed nervously on his thumb and then closed his eyes. There was a moment of silence then a click and then came a voice, cold and hard as stone, that grated like nails being drawn down a blackboard.

"_Have you learnt your lesson … Detective?"_

Jo shuddered as she tried to blot out the picture of him sitting in that chair.

"_No … I can see that you haven't. Perhaps I should have let the boys finish what they started but then where's the fun in that? You shouldn't have come after me..."_

There was the sound of sharp heels slowly crossing the concrete floor accompanied by a rustling as she moved indicating that the device doing the recording was attached to her clothing.

"_You should have left it alone. You've brought this on yourself you know? … Are you in pain?_"

They all started as they heard a sharp intake of breath that was evidently close to the microphone.

"_Oh dear, did they break a rib?" _

There was a sound like the rubbing of cloth and another gasp that sounded like a muffled expletive.

"_Dear dear! Two broken ribs. And what's this you're hiding? … Oh that's a nasty scar. Old injury? … Ah a crucifix! Are you a man of faith Detective or is this of sentimental value?" _

Again there was a pause and something knocked the microphone generating static causing the occupants of the room to start.

"_Don't worry I'll take good care of it. … Oh you're angry! That's good! I like a man with passion. Henrik used to be a man of passion but lately he's become rather … tiresome. I just know you and I going to have fun together._"

There was a bang and rustling in the distance and a moment of silence then Maggy's voice came again but irritated this time.

"_Where the hell have you been? Just put those down there. Did you get the laser sights? Good. Stick them to the door frame where I've marked it and then go get the gas cylinders from the first floor. _"

They all looked at one another. Who was she talking to? The Baxter brothers? Thatch? Maggy laughed and they could hear the cruelty in her voice as it echoed around the empty building.

"_I can see from your eyes that you've already worked out what I'm planning. Yes you and your team are going to die just like my Colm and Billy Morrison. Of course, that is if you live that long. But your team has a great reputation so I'm sure they'll find you in time and then you can have the pleasure of watching them die knowing that it will be … your … fault!"_

There was another groan and muffled expletive, again close to the microphone. Jo unconsciously grabbed her pendant , rubbing it between her dreading what was coming next.

"_You just don't know when to stop do you? So now I'm going to have to teach you._"

Everyone listened with bated breath to the echo of her footsteps. Something scraped across the floor and there were sounds of a case being opened. More footsteps and then...

"_Now I know that you're a resourceful man so I have to ensure that you can't escape or warn your friends. I can already see that you're trying to figure a way out of that duct tape. But as you're a man of faith this seems so much more appropriate don't you think?_"

Silence.

"_Mmm. Brave too. Or foolish. I wonder who'll come through that door first – that tall handsome Detective? Or perhaps that dark-haired partner of yours? Or perhaps that … nice young couple? It would be such a shame to leave that pretty little girl an orphan but I'm sure my good friend over there would love to take care of her._"

The mystery individual let out a sharp bark of lewd laughter that echoed loudly from the speakers.

"_Leave them out of this. I swear you touch one hair on her head and I will kill you with my bare hands._" Adam jumped as they heard Mac's voice for the first time. They could hear the pain in it, and the anger and torment too. Jo gripped the pendant of her necklace so hard it bit into her palm. Lindsay muffled her cry of outrage with her hands and Danny turned away slamming a fist into the glass partition making it vibrate. Only Sheldon remained immobile, the only sign of his anguish was the tightening of his lips and the slight shake of his head.

"_Oh I don't think you'll be doing that …_"

There was a slight pause and they all flinched as the recording relayed the loud chunking sound and hiss of compressed air. A quiet groan could be heard and the sound of ragged breathing but nothing more.

"_Leave us! Get the cylinders!… Look at me! … I said look at me! … That's better! I want to see … into … your … very … soul!"_

They flinched again, all expecting some reaction from Mac but there was nothing other than the sound of heavy breathing.

"_Back in the day, I saw men have holes drilled in their kneecaps to teach them a lesson. … Have you learnt your lesson … Detective?_"

There was no answer.

"_I asked if you had learnt your lesson?_"

They could hear the rage in her voice. They waited, steeling themselves for what they knew she was about to do. Instead it was Mac's voice that they heard!

"_Go to hell!_"

The tension in the room was at breaking point as the recording continued without another word being spoken, the only sounds being those of the power tool and deep ragged breaths that became more and more laboured. Suddenly Adam jumped up and slammed his fist onto the keyboard stopping the recording and ran out of the lab. Danny didn't dare turn around lest they see the emotion on his face. Lindsay reached out to put her hand on Jo's arm as Jo slowly sank into a chair.

"How much more is there?" she asked, her shaky voice barely discernible.

"Too much," answered Sheldon.

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

Mac threw back the covers and pushed himself onto the edge of the bed. He felt exhausted. His limbs seemed heavy and he could hardly lift his head. He sat for a second and then glanced at the clock. To his surprise it was almost midday. A noise from within his apartment attracted his attention setting his internal alarm ringing. He was about to reach for the gun in the night-stand when he smelled it. Pushing himself off the bed he pushed the drawer closed and reached for the prosthesis and locked it in place tightening the straps around his forearm. He padded silently towards the kitchen.

"You're burning it."

"Jeez Mac! Must you sneak up on people like that? You almost gave me heart failure." Don tried to put on a brave face for his friend. "Besides this is not burnt – it's crispy!"

"I thought you were on duty this weekend."

Don turned the bacon out onto a platter and replaced the pan on the stove to cook his eggs. "Nope, swapped with Scagnetti."

"Are you baby-sitting me?" Mac asked leaning against the door-frame.

"Nope, I'm cooking you breakfast … well brunch now that you're finally up!"

Mac nodded and then said quietly. "I'm sorry ..." Don looked at him sharply. "... for what happened … for … losing control like that." Don pulled the pan from the heat and spun around.

"Don't you apologize to me Mac. You have nothing to be sorry for. You've been through a lot. More than anyone I know could have handled. The surgery, the package, Jo, the recording ..."

Mac suddenly felt a wave of humiliation flood through him. He looked away. "You listened to it?" he asked, his voice quivering slightly.

Don swallowed knowing what was troubling his friend. He was sure that what he had heard would haunt his dreams for many nights to come. "Yeah, I did and you have nothing to be ashamed about. I couldn't have lasted as long as you did. Hell no one could." Mac looked up at his friend as Don placed a hand on his shoulder. The determination on Don's face and the intensity of the look in his eyes took Mac's breath away. "Now we are going to get this guy Mac and we're going to put him in prison right along side that little bitch and we are going to put an end to this once and for all."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N : Last chapter with the exception of tomorrow's epilogue! So I guess it's time to catch the bad guys ...**

**Chapter 19**

"Rufus O'Leary." The team stood staring at the DMV picture of Thatch grimacing at the camera, clearly taken several years before.

"I can't believe we have nothing on this guy." Danny waved his hands wildly. "No record. Not even a speeding ticket. How the hell has he kept such a low profile all these years?"

"Do we have an address for him?" asked Jo.

Danny looked nervously at Lindsay and Sheldon and nodded. "Er yeah."

Jo looked suspiciously at Danny. "What?"

"Flack's on his way there now." Lindsay offered. It suddenly dawned on Jo what they were not telling her.

"Oh please tell me Mac hasn't gone with him? He's not even supposed to be back at work yet."

No one said anything but they all winced as Jo stormed out of the room towards her desk and pulled her gun and holster from the top drawer. Danny and Lindsay exchanged looks and then rushed after her.

Sheldon looked at Adam who rolled his eyes heavenward and pulled up a chair. "Well let's see if we can figure out how Maggy Gunn was contacting Thatch."

Adam grinned at Sheldon. "Funny you should say that because the list that Flack got us shows one of the kitchen staff at the prison where Maggy Gunn is being held is called Hannah O'Leary. Wonder if they're related?"

Sheldon returned Adam's grin. "Well if she is she may soon be seeing the other side of prison life." Sheldon moved a piece of paper out of the way but then looked at it curiously. "What's this?"

Adam looked nonplussed. "Oh it's just the password Mac used on his computers. When I asked him how he remembered it, he said it was a phone code. I was trying to work out what he meant." Sheldon tipped his head on one side as he contemplated the number. '567374463'. Then he pulled the desk phone towards him. He grabbed a pen and under each number wrote a series of three letters. He thought for a moment and then circled a single letter in each group of three to make a nine letter word. He showed the paper to Adam whose face lit up as Sheldon grinned at him.

"I might have known."

.

'CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY – CSI:NY'

.

"Rufus O'Leary. NYPD. Open up!" Don yelled as he looked at Mac leaning against the wall at the other side of the doorway. Both men flinched as Thatch answered with a blast from a shot-gun that peppered the door with holes. They listened and then they heard the sound of breaking glass. "He's running!" Don looked at Mac and gestured to the door.

Mac smiled. "Oh allow me ..." Pushing away from the wall and spinning on his left foot, Mac raised his right leg and threw a well aimed kick at the door which flew open allowing Don to enter quickly, his gun gripped firmly in both hands. He dodged to the right in case Thatch unloaded the other barrel in their direction. Seeing no sign of him both men rushed to the broken window and looked out. Realizing that the window opened out onto a roof one floor below, Mac swung his legs over the sill mindful of the glass and dropped the roof landing in a crouch. Don spied Thatch legging across a nearby roof-top.

"There!" he yelled as he jumped out after Mac and both men set off in pursuit. Don grabbed his radio, with the intention of calling it in as he ran. Surprised by the pace Mac was setting, he couldn't help himself. "Hell they give you new legs too?"

Several blocks away Central relayed Don's message that was picked up by the radio in the Avalanche. Jo sat fuming in the front seat as Danny drove. "I'll give them officers in pursuit ..," she muttered. Danny glanced at Lindsay in the rear-view mirror. She raised her eyebrows and returned her attention to the tablet PC in her hands.

"Okay Danny hang a left and take Hudson. We'll try to cut them off at Washington. It sounds like they're heading to the meat-packing district."

The Avalanche cut through the traffic with it light's blazing and sirens blaring. It roared up Washington Street causing heads to turn. Danny drew to a stop with a squeal of tyres as Don burst out of a side-street in front of them looking around him frantically.

"Where the hell did they go?" he panted, his gun hanging uselessly in his hand. "We got split up when he ducked off the fire-escape into the building." Jumping out of the car Jo and Lindsay twisted around desperately trying to spot Mac among the late evening shoppers who were hurrying to the subway and reaching for their umbrellas as the New York skies opened.

"There!" screamed Lindsay spotting a dark figure weave his way past two cabs further up. "They're heading for the Highline."

Don and Jo immediately turned to see Mac disappear up the wrought-iron stairs. "Lindsay, go with Danny and head them off further up." Jo yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted off after Don. Jo could feel her heart pounding as she ran up the stairs and emerged into the lush green park. It was hard to believe that this haven of greenery had once been an old elevated freight-line carrying meat to and from the markets and slaughterhouses that had once dominated that district of the city. Now most of the tracks had gone, with only a few left rusting among the creative planting that provided an aerial oasis away from the hustle and bustle of city life below.

Jo slithered on the slick surface and dodged around the umbrella-wielding crowd as they cut short their day and headed towards the stairs behind her desperate to get out of the rain. A sudden gunshot cut through the evening air sending the remaining occupants of the park scurrying for cover. Jo heard Don shout Mac's name and her stomach flipped. Her panic forced her to run faster blinking furiously in the sudden heavy downpour unable to see what was going on. She heard Don yell again and saw him grind to a stop a few yards away. As she caught up she could see Don standing at the top of a flight the stairs his gun pointed at the two men wrestling below. Mac had managed to get the shotgun away from Thatch and they were locked together, hands at each others throats. Being the bigger man Thatch forced Mac to his knees but, going suddenly limp, Mac dropped to his back pulling Thatch with him before they both rolled over.

Mac pushed himself up and threw himself on top of his adversary. He locked his hands around Thatch's throat. Rage burned through him. The blood rushing in his ears drowned out the sound of the traffic below and the rain hammering against the metal railings matched the hammering in his chest. All the pain and hurt and anger came pouring out as he squeezed until a voice penetrated his mind.

"Mac! No!"

Mac looked down at the man beneath him as though seeing him for the first time. The grip on his right hand loosened slightly as he took in the man's red face and bulging eyes.

"Don't do it Mac. Please!"

Mac lifted his head and stared at Jo, her eyes pleading him not to kill the man he was slowly strangling. Mac looked down at his left hand and slowly the fingers opened. The man beneath him didn't move. Mac sat back on his heels looking at Thatch in horror. Mac felt Jo's hands on his shoulders pulling him up. He slowly stood up and looked at Jo, pure anguish in his eyes. "He was there. He was there with her. Oh God what have I done?"

Don holstered his weapon and dropped to his knees. He put his fingers to Thatch's throat and his cheek near his mouth. He sighed with relief. Don looked up at Jo. "He's still breathing." Don stood up and called for an ambulance as Danny and Lindsay came running from the other direction staring at Mac and Jo, and the man lying on the ground in the pouring rain.

Jo raised her hand to Mac's face where a large bruise was forming from his fight with Thatch and forced him to look at her. "It's over Mac," she whispered gently.

"Is it?" Jo could have wept at the despair in his voice. As she looked up at him a sudden ray of sun penetrated the clouds and cast a golden hue over the park. The raindrops glittered like diamonds on the leaves of the plants and Jo watched a cascade of drops fall to the ground around them. As she raised her eyes again her heart leapt for joy and she smiled up at him.

"Yes Mac it is. You've crossed the last hurdle and now it's going to be all right." Mac looked at her uncomprehendingly. "I'll explain later but look." Jo pointed to the sky over his shoulder.

Barely a mile from where they stood an elderly woman looked out of her window at the late evening sun that was breaking through the clouds to chase away the last of the rain. She nodded as she saw the multi-coloured arc shimmering over the New York skyline. She pushed her needle into her fabric and reached for a small silver locket. Opening it she looked at the two faded black and white photographs taken many years before. "What is it you always used to say Finbar? There is always gold at the end of the rainbow." Moira Gunn ran her thumb gently over the picture of her husband, closed the locket and slipped it into her pocket. She reached for her tea and smiled to herself as she sipped the sweet dark liquid and thought about the man who had made it his personal mission to bring Maggy Gunn to justice.

**_A/N : Oh and if you're having trouble working out Mac's password - the answer will be at the end of the epilogue!_**


	20. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Jo hummed along as she listened to the tentative chords being played in the other room. She added sugar to one of the coffees and carried the two mugs through to the living room. She paused in the doorway to watch for a moment and couldn't help but smile as Mac bit his lip in concentration desperate to make his hand form the note he wanted. She saw him wince as the guitar made a noise like a strangled cat.

Mac looked up at her with a rueful look on his face and placed his bass in it's stand. "I think I'd better stop there before the neighbours start complaining. " Jo grinned and placed the coffee on the table next to him.

"I have no doubt in my mind that you will master that too." Jo curled up next him and took a tentative sip from the mug before deciding it it was too hot and placed it next to Mac's. "It may just take a little longer than shoelaces and buttons."

Mac laughed. "Yeah. Well I've got the laces down to six minutes but I'm seriously thinking of giving up button-down shirts."

Jo giggled. "That's fine by me."

"Jo! You know what I meant."

"Well I think you look good in those sweaters. And you don't always need to wear a suit." Mac rolled his eyes having heard her complaints about his suits before. Jo glanced at him from under her lashes and took a deep breath before broaching the topic they'd been avoiding since he'd come in almost an hour earlier. "Are you okay?"

Mac looked at her for a second and then reached out and pulled her close, planting a kiss on her temple. "I'm fine. I know you didn't want me to go but I had to. I needed to see her and I needed her to see me." Mac looked at his hand. "You know I think she was actually pleased by this. She told me that it would be a permanent reminder of her and the time we had together." Jo gasped at his words and pulled away to look at him in horror but Mac just laughed. "I told her not to flatter herself."

"How can you be so ..." Jo searched desperately for the right word. "...cavalier about it?"

"Because I can't … I won't … let her win. Every time I look at my hand I will think of James and Michael." Jo frowned at him in askance. "Candace Broadbent's boys. At least now I will be able to look them in the face knowing that the people responsible for their mother's death are either dead or behind bars. My only regret is what I did to you and the team. I shouldn't have put you through that and for that I am truly sorry."

"Mac you don't have to be sorry for that. You were just trying to build a case against her. You couldn't have foreseen the consequences. You couldn't have known what kind of woman she is and what lengths she would go to. But I have to confess there was a time when I thought we were going to lose you. And that scared me more than anything." Jo looked away and she felt him take her hand in his.

"Thank you Jo. For everything. I couldn't have got through this without you."

As she looked up, Jo felt tears come to her eyes at the depth of feeling in his voice and the look in his eyes. Unable to respond she traced the scars on the back of his hand and on his palm. She could see that although they had faded they would never disappear and she knew that was true of the scars that she couldn't see, the ones inside. "I will always be here for you, you know that don't you?" They looked at one another for a moment before Jo took a deep breath. "Come on, drink your coffee or we're going to be late. Anyway, are you going to tell me where we're going?"

Mac smiled enigmatically at her, his eyes twinkling. "No. Just a fun afternoon with some friends I want you to meet. You did say you were up for anything!"

Half an hour later the cab pulled up in front of what had obviously once been a chapel. The exterior of the building looked a little run down and there was scaffolding over one of the windows. Two men were standing on ladders attempting to hang a sign next to the large arched entrance that had been refitted with modern glass doors. Jo tipped her head to one side and glimpsed the words 'Neighbourhood' and 'Centre'. Mac grabbed the front door and pulled it open for her. She looked at him questioningly. He had been very insistent on her wearing casual clothes. What was he getting her into? As she stepped inside she was surprised to see a number of people milling around carrying boxes or wielding paintbrushes. Sounds of someone sawing wood came from a staircase to her right where a man was endeavouring to fix a stair tread.

A large man with grey hair cut in a military style appeared to be directing operations. His face broke into a huge smile as he caught sight of them. "Mac!" Dumping his clipboard on a nearby table he strode across the room and threw his arms around Mac. "Oh man, it's good to see you." Mac returned the embrace, clearly at ease in the other's company.

"Josh! Allow me to introduce ..."

"Oh don't tell me. You must be Jo. We've heard all about you." Jo smiled unsure quite how to respond to the big bear-hug she suddenly found herself enveloped in. "Lily!" Josh bellowed. A woman appeared at the door at the far side of the room. "Look who's here." Lily, who had clearly been painting judging by the smear on the end of her nose and the numerous marks on her dungarees, crossed the room her arms out-stretched.

"Oh Mac. We've been so worried about you. It's been such a long while. Oh my you've lost weight. How are you?" Jo found herself smiling at the matronly-looking woman who clearly had a soft spot for Mac.

Mac smiled. "I'm good. Lily, this is …"

"Oh you must be Jo. It is so good to finally meet you. Mac has told us all about you." Again Jo was enveloped in a big bear hug. "We're so grateful that you can spare the time to come and help us. Things around here are crazy what with the big opening next week. Are you any good at building shelves?" Jo felt herself being pulled along. She glanced over her shoulder at Mac who was just waggling his fingers and grinning at her. "I just can't get my head around these idiotic pictures they put in the instructions. I just know you'll be able to figure it out. Now these are our offices ..." Jo caught a last glimpse of Mac disappearing upstairs with Josh as she was guided through the doorway. "...so much better than our last place. We were really lucky to get this building even if it does still need a lot of work." Lily kept up a constant chatter as she showed Jo around the centre. Jo was impressed by the thought that had gone into it. There were rooms for one-on-one counselling that overlooked a children's play space, a modern kitchen for providing quick and easy meals, an activities room where a young woman was filling a large cupboard with art supplies. "This also doubles as an after-school club for kids who need extra help with their school-work. We also have a small medical centre staffed by volunteers and this is going to be our resources room ..." Lily giggled. "...that is if we can ever figure out how to put these damned shelves together."

Almost three hours later Lily clapped her hands declaring herself delighted with the three shelving units that now lined one wall. "I knew you'd figure it out. I'll get the boys to fill the shelves when they get out of school. They'll enjoy that and they'll be over the moon when they find out Mac's here." She bustled out of the room announcing that everyone should come to the kitchen in fifteen minutes for a well-earned break. "Jo can you tell the others upstairs?" Jo pushed her hair out of her face. She shook her head in amazement as she gathered up the rest of the packaging and pushed it into a trash bag and went off in search of Mac her mind reeling. In the short time she had spent with Lily, she had learnt more about Mac than in the two and a half years they had worked together. Lily was certainly one to chatter on. Josh and Mac had been in the Marines together. They had been best man at one another's weddings. Learning that they couldn't have children of their own Mac had arranged for them to adopt James and Michael Broadbent when their mother was killed. Mac had also been involved in helping them raise funds for the community centre for the past few years and had been instrumental in securing their new premises. Jo was astounded by how many needs could be catered to, how much could be crammed into one building and by how much energy Lily and Josh put into everything they did.

Jo carefully climbed the stairs but whoever was fixing the stair-treads earlier had done a superb job. Not a single creak. As she reached the top of the stairs she faltered and a sick feeling crept into her stomach. Her heart seemed to stop as her ears caught a sound that she had hoped never to hear again. Her knuckles were white where she held tightly onto the newel post as she rounded the corner and stepped into the empty upper room. The floorboards had been newly laid and the scent of fresh wood was heavy in the warm air. Dust danced in the streaks of sunlight that filtered through the skylight windows. At the far end of the room a series of wooden batons and insulating strips had been fixed horizontally to cover the rough brick and cement wall. Mac was stood on a small platform with his back to her, a tool-belt slung around his waist. He had discarded his sweater and his grey tee-shirt clung to him in the warm air as he lifted the tongue-and-groove panel into place. Holding the panel in place with his left arm he reached down and picked up the power tool. Jo shuddered as he punched nail after nail into the wood before replacing the nail-gun on the platform and reaching for another panel.

Jo sensed someone step up beside her. "I offered him a dozen other jobs you know but he insisted." Jo looked at Josh surprised that such a big man could move so quietly. She nodded although somehow she was not surprised that Mac had volunteered for that particular job. Josh sighed and shook his head. "He really is the most extraordinary man." They both watched as Mac reached once more for the power tool.

Jo smiled to herself. "Yes. That he is."

**The End!**

_Ouf! Made it to the end of what has been the most difficult story I have written so far but I got there in the end and in time for the summer vacation too. Thanks to all who have made it to the end of this story, sent reviews and comments both good and bad! I'm only an fledgling writer and I appreciate the feedback. Special thanks to Swarovski, mav32, tlh45, csiny96 and Lilmizmoz._

_Hope you all have a great summer!_

A/N: For those who couldn't work out Mac's password here's what Sheldon wrote:

**5 - 6 - 7 - 3 - 7 - 4 - 4 - 6 - 3**

**J - **M** - **P** - **D** - P - **G** - **G** - **M** - **D

K** - **N** - **Q** - E - **Q** - H - -**H** - N - E**

L** - O - **R** - **F** - **R** - **I** - I - **O** - **F

**- _ - S - _**S** - _ - _ - _**

And if you're interested these are the articles that inspired this story:

bbc-dot-co-dot-uk/news/science-environment-13273348


End file.
